Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo, 59, has been diagnosed with a lymphoma following the biopsy of an inguinal ganglion extracted Wednesday. He will be travelling to Brazil next Tuesday to continue with lab tests and to decide future steps.
The Paraguayan Senate under opposition control postponed the consideration of Paraguay’s incorporation to Unasur, Union of South American Nations, without any mediate timetable to review the issue. The Senate also has it its “frozen” agenda a vote on Venezuela’s incorporation to Mercosur as full member.
Mercosur presidents, meeting in Argentina, called for a “quick conclusion” of Venezuela’s incorporation process to the block which remains stalled at the Paraguayan congress.
Venezuela’s Foreign Affairs minister Nicolas Maduro called on the Paraguayan parliament for a “sincere and fraternal” vote that opens the way for Venezuela’s incorporation to Mercosur as a full member, a request pending since 2006.
Paraguay expects the Mercosur summit that begins Monday in San Juan, Argentina, to approve 650 million US dollars in loans. The Paraguayan Foreign Affairs ministry also confirmed that President Fernando Lugo and chancellor Hector Lacognata will be attending the meeting.
Paraguayan officials downplayed statements by Brazil’s main opposition presidential candidate Jose Serra who said that Brazil is doing “philanthropy with Paraguay and Bolivia”.
Brazilian incumbent presidential candidate Dilma Rousseff revealed that Brazil is patrolling its border area next to Paraguay with an UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) hoping to control the inflow of narcotics, weapons and illegal merchandise (contraband).
Cattle breeders in Paraguay and Chilean are suffering the consequences of a particularly severe austral winter which has killed hundreds of cattle and threatens the lives of tens of thousands more.
Natural gas-rich Bolivia has invited Paraguay and Uruguay to confirm sufficient demand to justify the building of a commercially viable 2.000 kilometres pipeline linking with Asunción and Montevideo.
Hydrocarbons minister Fernando Vincenti confirmed that Bolivia is interested in extending its natural gas pipeline network to add Paraguay and Uruguay to its list of clients now limited to Mercosur main associates, Brazil and Argentina.