By Juan Francisco Alonso - El Universal - Venezuela is not only a full member of the bloc since July 2012, but it also holds the pro-tempore presidency. The entry into force of Venezuela's denunciation of the American Convention on Human Rights, which implies its withdrawal from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR Court), breaches at least three regulations of Mercosur regional trade bloc.
While the world press decries plunging print readership and advertising revenue, newspaper editors in Venezuela are struggling with a much more fundamental problem: lack of newsprint.
Venezuela's annual inflation rate hit 45.4% in August, the central bank revealed this week, the highest in five years and the highest in the region, even as consumer price increases slowed from the previous month.
Mercosur parliament, Parlasur, resumed activities on Monday and the first thing it agreed on was to name a committee to help find a way out to the controversy between Paraguay and Venezuela. Although Venezuela holds the rotating chair of Mercosur, Paraguay refuses to acknowledge even its status as full member of the regional group.
Venezuela must immediately reverse its decision to withdraw from the American Convention on Human Rights and make a commitment to truly protect all individuals, Amnesty International said on Monday. The Venezuelan government’s decision will take effect on Tuesday 10 September. The withdrawal will leave Venezuelan citizens without the protection of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
The World Economic Forum Competitiveness report published last week shows Latinamerica is loosing ground in the world economy and the three countries which most plunged in the ranking in the last twelve months were: Venezuela, Argentina and Uruguay.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ended a one-day visit to Guyana on Saturday in a move that strengthens the relationship between the two countries that have had a long standing border dispute. The two countries have agreed to ask the Jamaica-born academic, Professor Norman Girvan to continue as the United Nations (UN) Good Officer as they seek to settle their border dispute.
Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro apologized to his peer Paraguayan peer Horacio Cartes for any ‘pain’ caused to Paraguay and promised a ‘sacrifice’ to repair the ‘error’, according to sources from both presidents and from Brazilian leader Dilma Rousseff who sponsored the meeting between the two heads of state in the framework of the recent Unasur VII summit in Suriname.
Paraguay and Venezuela presidents Horacio Cartes and Nicolas Maduro met on Friday for over half an hour following the mediation of Brazilian leader Dilma Rousseff during the Unasur summit taking place in Paramaribo, Suriname. The meeting was made official by the Paraguayan presidency office and twits from the Planalto Palace, seat of the Brazilian executive.
Uruguay and Argentina presidents Jose Mujica and Cristina Fernandez seem to have ironed out differences, at least in public and in the pictures, during the inauguration of a gasoline and diesel de-sulphuring plant in Montevideo, which was financed with Venezuelan funds and Argentine technology.