The Mercosur presidential summit in Montevideo has been temporarily suspended following the news that a member of the Argentine delegation had committed suicide which left delegation members in a state of shock.
“Any jurisdictional acts coming from Malvinas is invalid for us” and therefore Malvinas flagged vessels are barred from Uruguayan ports, a decision which is extensive to all Unasur members, said Uruguayan Foreign Affairs minister Luis Almagro.
Argentina supported by Brazil has proposed increasing Mercosur Foreign External Tariff to better defend the group when country members are being flooded with cheap imports.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said he will travel on Tuesday to the Mercosur summit in Uruguay in his first official foreign trip since undergoing cancer surgery in June and a further sign he is feeling stronger.
Latin America’s projected 2011 export growth of 26% to approximately 1.1 trillion dollars continues the strong growth posted in 2010, according to new estimates by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
The president of the Paraguayan congress Senator Jorge Oviedo Matto said that Paraguay should withdraw from Mercosur if the block during its Tuesday summit in Montevideo agrees the incorporation of Venezuela “eluding the approval of the Legislative as indicates the Constitution and the Mercosur charter”.
Mercosur member countries meeting in Montevideo for their regular six-month summit are drafting a resolution that would bar Falklands’ flagged vessels from all Mercosur members’ ports, following on the traditional Argentine policy and now openly supported by the Uruguayan government.
Argentine Foreign Affairs minister Hector Timerman publicly thanked and praised on Monday the Uruguayan decision, announced last week, to bar Falklands’ flagged vessels form the port of Montevideo and any other sea or fluvial terminal in the country.
President Barack Obama has accused the government of Venezuela of threatening basic democratic values ahead of elections next year. He added that close relations with Iran and Cuba did not serve the interests of the Venezuelan people.
A two day Mercosur summit begins Monday in Montevideo with Foreign Affairs ministers meeting Monday and the presidents on Tuesday when the rotating chair will be passed from Uruguay to Argentina for the next six month.