Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez advised Repsol to seek a friendly agreement in its dispute with Argentina and noted that the Spanish energy company held important assets in his country.
Paraguayan president Federico Franco said on Monday that the only coup, if that is the word, was implemented by Mercosur from the moment they left Paraguay out of the decision to incorporate Venezuela as a full member of the group.
The head of the Brazilian Senate and former president Jose Sarney said he had his reservations about the incorporation of Venezuela to Mercosur as full member since the government of Hugo Chavez does not respect democratic rules.
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said he had talked with his peer from Brazil Dilma Rousseff who confirmed the invitation to an extraordinary meeting of Mercosur next July 31 in Rio do Janeiro.
Mercosur Review Standing Tribunal admitted the demand presented by the government of President Federico Franco against the suspension of Paraguay and thus object the incorporation of Venenzuela as full member of the regional block
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez announced the creation of a strategic fund geared to support public and private exports to Mercosur, following his confirmation that he will fly to Brazil for the formal incorporation of his country as a full member of the block that also includes Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and suspended Paraguay.
Former Brazilian president Fernando Enrique Cardoso said that his country is rapidly loosing influence in South America to Venezuela, following on remarks about the suspension of Paraguay from Mercosur.
President Hugo Chavez underlined the significance of the defence cooperation memorandum signed between Venezuela and Argentina which is part of “the necessary strategic integration of the armed forces in the framework of Mercosur and turning the block into a military power”.
Venezuelan Defence minister Henry Rangel Silva and his Argentine peer Arturo Puricelli signed on Friday a cooperation agreement to further advance in the integration of the two armed forces in the framework of the Unasur Defence Council.
Horacio Cartes a presidential hopeful from the Paraguayan hegemonic Partido Colorado said that exiting Mercosur would only cause the closure of industries and the loss of thousands of jobs in the country.