Argentine President Cristina Fernández said on Tuesday during a press conference held at the Mercosur extraordinary summit in Brasilia, that Venezuela’s entry to the bloc “strengthens the entire region” and creates a “new pole of power” at world level.
Following a full day of deliberations in Brasilia between Foreign Affairs ministers, the presidents from Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, on Tuesday will formally receive Venezuela as the new full member of Mercosur, as was agreed at the regular mid year summit in Mendoza.
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez announced he expected to sign an oil/gas alliance between Argentina’s YPF and PDVSA (Venezuelan Petroleum) when he meets with his peer Cristina Fernandez in Brasilia in the framework of the Mercosur extraordinary summit to officially incorporate the country as full member of the trade group.
Israeli ambassador in Uruguay Dori Goren said that the incorporation of Venezuela of Mercosur should “concern” the countries of the regional block given what he described as “Venezuelan support to Iranian agents that establish terror webs in the region”.
Brazilian diplomats revealed during a television Globo News debate details of the controversial procedure applied by Mercosur countries to suspend Paraguay and agree the incorporation of Venezuela as full member.
Experts from Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela will begin to define on Monday in Brasilia the technical procedures and timetable for the incorporation of Venezuela to Mercosur which will become official on Tuesday at an extraordinary summit of the block.
United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on Thursday that Venezuela's pullout of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR Court) would be devastating for the international organization. Spokesperson Rupert Colville said the move will be not good for Venezuela either.
Venezuelan President met on Wednesday with a committee from the Brazilian government to discuss mechanisms to speed the full integration of the country to the regional block. Brazil currently holds the Mercosur rotating chair.
Brazil’s influential newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo blasted Brazilian foreign policy and its handling of the Paraguayan political crisis. In an opinion column under the heading “Dilma’s anti-diplomacy” the newspaper argues that the current administration is politicizing foreign policy, the same way that her predecessor, Lula da Silva.
Venezuela's Hugo Chávez unveiled a 3D image of South America's 19th century independence hero Simon Bolivar on Tuesday, based on bones the president ordered exhumed two years ago to test his theory that Bolivar was murdered.