Brazil’s Businessmen Urge Congress to Bar Venezuela from Mercosur

Anti-Chávez protesters in the streets of Venezuela Brazilian businessmen requested Brazil's Congress on Thursday, November 29, to freeze plans for Venezuela's incorporation to Mercosur following President Hugo Chavez threats to nationalize those private companies contrary to the constitutional reform of his making which Venezuelans will be voting Sunday in a referendum.

"We can't remain silent to the threat from Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez to confiscate those companies affiliated to the Federation of Production Chambers and Associations, (Fedecámaras), for their opposition to the constitutional reform," reads an official release in Brasilia from the Confederation of Trade and Business Associations from Brazil, CACB.

The release signed by the organization's president Alencar Burti states that Brazilian businessmen understand that "democracy accepts backings and criticisms" and warns about the current "threat" to freedom of expression and private property rights in Venezuela.

Concern about these threats is closely linked to "Venezuela's imminent participation as full member of Mercosur," which now depends on the approval from the Congresses of Brazil and Paraguay. Argentina and Uruguay legislatives have approved the proposal.

CACB argues that "accepting in Mercosur a country whose leader attempts against what has been the struggle of businessmen for over 200 years, freedom of enterprise, can only generate doubts."

Based on these circumstances CACB calls on the Brazilian Congress and government "to review its position of support for Venezuela as full member of Mercosur while restrictions to freedom of expression and pressures on those who do not agree with the government, persist."

This week during a political rally Chavez warned that he could decide to nationalize those companies that actively participate in the campaign against the constitutional reforms he is sponsoring and will be voted in a referendum next Sunday.

Chavez made the warning following on Fedecámaras spokesperson José Manuel Gonzales call "to vote against" the constitutional reform and asking Venezuelans citizens to march and "actively express" their disapproval of the new constitution.

Mercopress

Tags:

You May Also Like

For Brazilian President the G-8 Is Dead, Long Live the G-20

Brazilian President Lula da Silva said on Saturday the Group of Eight is no ...

Almost 70% of Brazilian Exports to Arabs Come from Agribusiness

Agribusiness was the main base for Brazilian exports to the Arabs last year. Of ...

Itajaí­ port in Santa Catarina state, Brazil

Brazilian Exports Grow 15% to Over US$ 25 Billion This Year

Brazilian exports yielded US$ 2.871 billion in the second week of March (from the ...

São Paulo, Brazil, Goes on a Shopping Spree

Paulistanos, the residents of São Paulo city, Brazil, have great plans for consumption in ...

An English woman tells about her juicy time in Rio

For this Englishwoman all the variety of juices in Rio was more than she ...

Bruno Senna dreams to run F1 by 2009

Brazil’s Car Racer: Another Senna Revs Up a Ferrari in Great Britain

Bruno Senna, who dreams to run for Formula 1 in 2009,  will star as ...

Brazil’s Havaianas Maker Buys Argentina Firm and Dreams of Going Global

Brazil-based São Paulo Alpargatas, the country's largest textile and Footwear Company announced Friday the ...

Brazil Unemployment Stays at 9.6% for Five Months in a Row

Approximately 1.5 million new registered, on-the-books, jobs were created in 2005 in Brazil, according ...

LETTERS

For all its self-congratulatory slaps on the back, the Brazilian marketeering establishment is not ...

Lula Washes Hands on Cuban Dissident’s Death and Is Called Accomplice of Torture

Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva denied on Wednesday, in Havana, that he ...