President Hugo Chavez claimed that a small group of Paraguayan lawmakers, manipulated by a “powerful black hand”, are impeding the long-delayed access of Venezuela as full member of Mercosur.
Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo called for the free flow and free access of his country’s goods to Mercosur senior members’ markets and insisted on the energy integration of the block.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez arrived in Uruguay on Friday to push for his country's incorporation into the Mercosur trade bloc, in his first official trip abroad since undergoing cancer surgery in June.
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”.
Brazil’s International Affairs presidential advisor Marco Aurelio García admitted there is “disappointment” in Mercosur with the delay from the Paraguayan congress in approving the incorporation of Venezuela.
Uruguayan president Jose Mujica announced Mercosur is considering the modification of legislation so that Venezuela can definitively be incorporated as a full member to the South American trade block, which has been blocked for several years now by the Paraguayan Congress.
The World Animal Health Organization, OIE, dependent from FAO, informed Paraguay that its territory had lost the condition of free of foot and mouth disease with vaccine, following an outbreak of the disease reported September 18.
Paraguay experienced negative inflation during the month of November influenced by the fall in meat prices, mainly beef, because of a ban on exports, which more than compensated an increase in fuel costs.
The loss of competitiveness with Brazil, the strong devaluation of the Argentine peso, the rigorous foreign exchange controls imposed by the government of President Cristina Fernandez and their possible impacts on the coming summer season, is some of the main concerns of the Uruguayan tourism industry.
Paraguayan members from the Mercosur Parliament, Parlasur made a public statement to complain the ‘intimidating Brazilian military display’ with armoured vehicles and heavy equipment along the border particularly across from the Ciudad del Este which is ‘contrary to international agreements and the Mercosur spirit’.