Paraguay’s government blasted Mercosur decision of incorporating Venezuela as a full member of the bloc before finishing the legislative procedure to do so and did not discard the possibility of having the Paraguayan people “decide whether to remain or not in Mercosur”.
President Federico Franco announced in a press conference that if Paraguay is suspended from Mercosur the country will feel free to look for other trade agreements and international relations.
Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay made official on Friday the temporary suspension of Paraguay from Mercosur, because of the ‘summary’ removal of President Fernando Lugo and at the same time announced Venezuela will be incorporated to the group on July 31 at a meeting in Rio do Janeiro.
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.
Ahead of a regional meeting on Paraguay, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called on all concerned to “work in the days ahead to ensure the peaceful resolution of differences” which led to the removal of the Paraguayan president.
United States strongly supports the Organization of American States Council decision to send a top level delegation to Paraguay headed by Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza, said on Wednesday US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland during the daily briefing.
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”
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.
While the ouster of Paraguay’s president is a setback to the young democracy of the country, it shouldn’t be viewed as a repeat of Latin America’s history of coup d’états. The painful process of democratic maturity will continue, albeit slowly.
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.