
Mercosur will not impose economic sanctions on Paraguay despite concerns over the ousting of the country's president, officials said on Thursday evening at the summit taking place in Mendoza, Argentina.

Besides the Mercosur summit, the Argentine city of Mendoza will also be hosting on Friday an emergency meeting from the Union of South American nations to discuss Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo’s swift removal and replacement by a government which has triggered strong resistance in the continent.

The removal of Fernando Lugo from the Paraguayan Executive office was legal, said Brazilian former president and Senator Fernando Collor, quoted by O’Globo. He insisted there was “no coup”.

Paraguay’s head of the Industrial Union Eduardo Felippo said that he’s supportive of the possibility that the country is excluded from Mercosur, adding that “the rest of the members are going to lose more money than us”

The new Paraguayan government claimed before the Organization of American States, OAS, that Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay are again involved in a “Triple Alliance” to have the country ousted from the inter-American organization as is happening with Mercosur and Unasur.

Ousted Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo announced on Tuesday that he will not be attending the coming Mercosur summit scheduled to take place this Thursday and Friday in Mendoza.

Uruguayan president Jose Mujica rejected on Monday the possibility of applying economic sanctions on Paraguay following on the “parliamentary coup” as was announced by Venezuela which decided to cut the supply of subsidized oil.

Chilean president Sebastián Piñera revealed that next Friday during the regular Mercosur summit, the leaders of Unasur member states are scheduled to hold an extraordinary meeting to jointly address the political crisis in Paraguay triggered by the removal of President Fernando Lugo.

The Paraguayan Supreme Electoral tribunal said on Monday that President Federico Franco “must complete” the current mandate that concludes August 2013 and discarded any possibility of advancing the national elections scheduled for April the same year.

Mercosur countries decided on Sunday “to suspend with immediate effect” the participation of Paraguay in the coming Mercosur summit and preparatory meetings set to begin Monday until next Friday in Mendoza because of the removal of President Fernando Lugo.