It might seem unusual, but it is undoubtedly unprecedented.
Due to the CGT strike and to not use private flights or special State planes, Chancellor
Diana Mondino
brought forward her trip to Paraguay to this Tuesday, and she will do it
partly by plane, partly by car, by land
, via Formosa.
Her return was scheduled for Thursday, also to avoid the CGT's forceful measure.
The distance between
Buenos Aires and Asunción is 1,041 km and there are about 112 direct flights per week,
operated by several companies, including Aerolíneas Argentinas.
But the
Aeronautical Personnel Association
(APA) joined the strike against Javier Milei's economic plan.
The APA union brings together airport ground staff and will not provide services for 24 hours.
Therefore, the entire operation of commercial flights will be affected.
There will be cancellations and delays.
The distance between the capital of Formosa and Paraguay is 112.9 km.
By vehicle, it takes just over 2 and a half hours round trip.
In Paraguay the agenda has
multiple purposes
.
In formal terms, on Wednesday she is waiting for the meeting - the first for her as minister of Javier Milei - of the foreign ministers of the
five Mercosur countries
: that of Paraguay,
Rubén Ramírez
, host of the presidency that begins there;
that of Brazil,
Mauro Vieira
, who commands a good part of the negotiations;
that of Uruguay,
Omar Paganini
;
and
Celinda Sosa
from Bolivia, a country that has just entered the bloc as a full member.
Mondino travels with the Undersecretary of Latin American Affairs, Ambassador
Mariano Vergara
, and with the Director of Mercosur of the Foreign Ministry,
Roxana Sánchez
.
It is difficult for the group to arrive this Tuesday to the official dinner that Foreign Minister Ramírez offers to everyone, but they will be there this Wednesday for the bilateral meeting that Mondino will hold at 7:30 with the Foreign Minister of Uruguay.
Santiago Peña, president of Paraguay, gave Milei a poncho on December 10.
regional summit
The Mercosur meeting in Paraguay, which begins at 9 on Wednesday, has
a dual purpose
.
On the one hand,
lift the free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union
, which fell in December when Alberto Fernández's government said it was not signing at this stage.
There were always objections on both sides, including the strong French lobby against any concession in agricultural matters.
Meanwhile,
the Milei government wants to hurry to sign this and other agreements
.
Ambassador Marcelo Cima, Secretary of International Trade and national coordination of international negotiations, is this Tuesday in Brasilia with the mission of raising the text that was negotiated for December and fell;
and the idea they have is to have something ready soon to bring Mondino and him something new on a trip to Brussels, which still has no date but they want it for the middle of this year.
For their part,
Mondino and Vergara also face a negotiation with the government of Santiago Peña
regarding the collection of tolls on the Confluencia-Santa Fe Norte Waterway.
It was established by the Fernandez government, and has been charged since January 2023 in dollars: Paraguayans reject it.
There was a strong escalation with that.
The idea that the new Argentine government has is to continue charging but lower the price.
President Santiago Peña will offer all ministers a entertainment lunch at Mburuvicha Róga, the Presidential Residence.
And as a last activity, Mondino, Vergara and Sánchez will in fact have a meeting alone with Foreign Minister Ramirez to talk about bilateral issues, such as the Paraná-Paraguay Waterway and the early renegotiation of the binational Yacyretá dam.
With respect to Uruguay, there is also another negotiation for the new Argentine government - "which has the best will", they say here - to accept a long Uruguayan request to be able to extend the dredging of the access channel to the port of Montevideo from 13 to 14 meters. , which the neighbors want to transform into a point of strong international influence and which of course competes with Buenos Aires.
A demonstration against
workers at the Argentine embassy in Asunción
also awaits Mondino and the Argentine Delegation .
It will be the same day as the strike and it is, they say, promoted by the opposition in Argentina.
The chancellor never met as minister with her peers from the region, except with the Brazilian Vieira, to whom she gave a letter from Milei to Lula inviting him to his inauguration on December 10.
She later received him especially in Buenos Aires.
Lula and Milei never spoke after the former openly supported Sergio Massa and the latter called him a “poisoned socialist
. ”