Uruguayan president Jose Mujica called on the Mercosur summit for a quick incorporation of Venezuela as full member of the group and said it was time the rest of Latin America moved closer to the integration process.
Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner underlined the significance of Venezuela as a full member of Mercosur which should enable the group to consolidate an energy front.
Venezuela’s incorporation as a full member of Mercosur has been secured following the confirmation of a political agreement in Paraguay, the only of the four-country group that still had a vote pending in congress.
Venezuelan opposition leaders fear President Hugo Chavez will use special decree powers he has requested to override an electoral setback that stripped him of a super-majority in parliament.
Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo for the second time in a year withdrew the request from Congress for the approval of Venezuela’s incorporation as a full member of Mercosur. This leaves the issue for next year.
Candidates from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s party PSUV won seven municipalities and one state in regional polls, the populist socialist leader’s first test since suffering a setback in September legislative elections, state television reported.
Venezuela’s incorporation to Mercosur as full member seems closer as the Paraguayan Senate readies to consider the issue following on political agreements worked out by President Fernando Lugo.
Venezuela agreed to pay Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA 690 million US dollars for an 81% stake in the Saint-Etienne, France-based company’s local supermarkets, said Elias Jaua, vice president of the Venezuela’s official news agency, AVN.
The Paraguayan Executive sent this week to congress a bill requesting the incorporation of Venezuela to Mercosur. Paraguay’s legislative confirmation is the last step to complete the long process, begun in 2006, for Venezuela to become a full member of the South American block currently made up of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay.
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez announced he would again run for office in 2012 underlining that “there’s no turning back” from the current “Bolivarian revolution” process which he has been leading for the last twelve years.