Paraguay Sees Venezuela in Mercosur as Protection Against a Bully Brazil

Chavez and Lula at Mercosur meetingOne of the benefits of the Venezuelan incoroporation to Mercosur is that it should help dilute the Brazil-Argentina hegemony and should be beneficial for small countries Paraguay and Uruguay, said Paraguay’s Foreign Affairs minister Héctor Lacognata chatting with foreign correspondents.

The Paraguayan Senate is the last hurdle for Venezuela’s full incorporation to Mercosur, following the recent approval by the Brazilian Senate where the request had been foundered for a couple of years.

“Mercosur needs more full-member countries. Mercosur with four full members in its current format with a strong Brazilian hegemony does not benefit small country members. The incorporation of new members such as Venezuela, Mexico, Chile, Bolivia and others will necessarily force a review,” said Lacognata.

He added that his proposal is not new: “I was a sponsor of an enlarged Mercosur when I was a member of the Mercosur parliament.”

Small countries will then be able to form new alliances if Mercosur effectively is enlarged, underlined Lacognata.

Venezuela’s Mercosur incorporation began in 2006 and received immediate support from the Argentina and Uruguayan legislatives but was stalled in the Brazilian Senate following a strong exchange between its members and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.

However three years later and following strong lobbying from President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the Brazilian business community, and even support from the Venezuelan opposition, the Brazilian Senate finally approved the incorporation.

The argument was not only the billions of US dollars in contracts for Brazilian corporations but also that is was better for Venezuelan democracy to have “Chavez inside than outside the block with whoever knows what allies.”

The administration of Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo attempted to have the issue voted last August but was forced to withdraw when he was warned of insufficient votes.

Lacognata said that “we are now facing a completely different scenario particularly following the Brazilian Senate vote, so we are hopeful that next March the Paraguayan Upper house will discuss and give a quick approval to Venezuela’s incorporation to Mercosur.”

Mercopress

Tags:

You May Also Like

13 Years Later Brazilian Journalist’s Murderer Still Unpunished

The IAPA (Inter American Press Association) called on newspaper readers throughout the Americas to ...

For Brazil’s Lula Depending So Much on Bolivia’s Gas Was Strategic Error

The relationship between state-run Brazilian oil giant Petrobras and Bolivia goes back before the ...

Brazil: Just Another Day of Wait at the Che Guevara Camp

What do the inhabitants of the Che Guevara camp in Alto Alegre dos Parecis, ...

United Brazil and South America Depend Less on US and EU, says Lula

On his biweekly radio program, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said today ...

Brazil Finds New Huge Oilfield, Possibly World’s Third Largest

Brazil keeps finding huge new oil fields. The director general of Brazil's National Petroleum, ...

Poorest 50% of Brazilians to Get 15% of the GDP

The share of the country’s total income allotted to the poorest half of the ...

Brazil’s Pork Exports Zoom Up 136%

Earnings from Brazilian pork exports rose 136% in the first two months of 2005, ...

End of European Embargo Gives Brazil Honey Exports a Boost

Honey exports from Brazil have bounced back from the falling figures observed in July ...

Arafat Thanks Brazilian Representatives

The president of the National Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat, thanked Brazil’s federal representative Jamil ...

US Crisis Takes Chinese to Brazil and Latin American Neighbors

Currently visiting Argentina, Chinese Vice-Premier Hui Liangvu signed accords to boost cooperation in agriculture, ...