Chavez travels to Brazil for MERCOSUR meeting

The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, suspended his programme of activities related to the presidential election on October 7, and travelled to Brasilia, Brazil on Monday to meet with the presidents of the member countries of the Common Southern Market (MERCOSUR){{more}} and to be present at the ceremony in which Venezuela was incorporated fully as a member of this economic South-American organization.

A release from Yoel Perez Marcano, Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to St Vincent and the Grenadines, said the incorporation of Venezuela into MERCOSUR, which comprises of the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Republic of Argentina, the Oriental Republic of Uruguay and the Republic of Paraguay (now suspended for the coup against President Fernando Lugo), is a historical fact which favours the integration of Latin America and the Caribbean and opens the door for the development of the economies of the neighbouring Eastern Caribbean countries.

According to the release, on arrival at the Brazilian capital, Chavez stated that the presence of Venezuela in the mechanism of economic integration will complement the contributions of individual member countries, as Brazil contributes with its great industrial development, Argentina with agricultural potential, which binds to the agro-exporting economies of Paraguay and Uruguay, and Venezuela brings its deposits of petroleum and its growing energy industry.

Similarly, the Venezuelan Bolivarian leader said that the participation of MERCOSUR will give the country a major boost to the integration process in Latin America and the Caribbean, because Venezuela will become, by its connection of roads, railways, ports and airports with Caribbean, a bridge between the countries of South America and the Eastern Caribbean economies, whereby goods and services may be acquired at lower prices than what is currently being spent to import from other more distant markets and with high transportation costs; as well as benefitting from the financial markets and goods and services of these countries, situation that allows the signing of agreements with MERCOSUR, CARICOM and OECS, to integrate the economies of its members by promoting the development and welfare of their peoples.

The release said the final incorporation of Venezuela into the sub-regional market, which brings together the major economies of South America, was agreed at the Presidential Summit held by presidents Dilma Russef of Brazil, Cristina Fernandez, Argentina and José Mujica, Uruguay last June in the city of Mendoza, Argentina. It was also decided at that meeting to suspend the rights of Paraguay as a member state, “in accordance with the rules of the democratic safeguards of MERCOSUR, in response to the coup carried out by most members of parliament of that country against the democratic government of President Fernando Lugo, an action which was repudiated not only by the countries of MERCOSUR, but also the UNASUR, ALBA, and the Central American Integration System, SICA.”