Brazil said it is hard to see Paraguay rejoining Mercosur and Unasur before next year’s presidential election. The two blocks suspended the landlocked country following the removal of Fernando Lugo last June and replacing him with President Federico Franco.
Foreign minister Jose Felix Fernandez Estigarribia confirmed the beginning of negotiations for the re-incorporation of Paraguay to Unasur and Mercosur which will take place through the mediation of a Latinamerican country he did not identify.
US Trade Representative Ron Kirk urged the Brazilian government in a letter sent on Wednesday to reconsider plans for protectionist tariff increases expected to hurt US exports.
Brazil said it is confident that the electoral process in Venezuela, where Chavez is bidding for another six years will be “credible and transparent”. Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota made the statement in an interview published on Sunday by O Estado de Sao Paulo.
Brazilian Foreign minister Antonio Patriota strongly defended the decision to suspend Paraguay from Mercosur following the removal of Fernando Lugo from the presidency, as well as the incorporation of Venezuela as full member of the trade group.
The head of the Brazilian Senate and former president Jose Sarney said he had his reservations about the incorporation of Venezuela to Mercosur as full member since the government of Hugo Chavez does not respect democratic rules.
Brazil considers “important” that the Organization of American States, OAS, takes into consideration the decisions from Mercosur and Unasur relative to the suspension of Paraguay from the two regional groupings.
Brazilian Foreign minister Antonio Patriota again supported the access of Venezuela as full member of Mercosur and the suspension of Paraguay, which he described as a clear message for all those possible “anti-democratic adventures”.
The crisis triggered by the removal of Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo has spilt over the borders of the country and has turned into a regional controversy that threatens to become a huge headache for Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff according to the weekly magazine Istoé, one of the two with largest circulation in Brazil.
The Uruguayan government revealed on Monday its disagreement with the way Venezuela’s incorporation to Mercosur was decided last Friday at the summit held in Mendoza, Argentina, and said “it was not the last word” since the process must be reviewed from a juridical point of view.