In the midst of the attempt to revive the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, and Alberto Fernández also advance in the bet of reincorporating Venezuela into Mercosur.
The incorporation of Venezuela had been suspended between the end of 2016 and the beginning of 2017, when the bloc invoked the Ushuaia Protocol that imposes on its members clauses of respect for democracy to be a full member. Those were times when the repression of the Chavista regime against the opposition in the streets of the Caribbean country intensified.
As Clarín learned from official sources, now the talks for Venezuela to rejoin are advanced. The biggest promoter is the president of Brazil. But Alberto Fernández accompanies the proposal.
And although it is not on the official agenda yet, the talks will continue in the next meetingof presidents of Puerto Iguazú, on July 3 and 4.
There is also another possibility that a special meeting may be organized for a later date. They plan it for after the inauguration of Santiago Peña as president of Paraguay, scheduled for mid-August. Peña agrees with that reinstatement. At least he is not opposed. He said so.
The LXII Mercosur Summit in Iguazú will begin its debates on July 3 with the Ordinary Meeting of the Common Market Council (CMC), that of foreign ministers, which will be coordinated by Santiago Cafiero. In this summit that takes place on the border of Misiones, Argentina has to transfer to Brazil the pro tempore presidency of the bloc that it exercised in these six months. For Fernández it will be the last, because his government ends on December 10.
The renewal of the link with Maduro
Since sending the leader Oscar Laborde as ambassador to Caracas, the Government raised the level of its link with the regime of Nicolás Maduro. Now they are all doing them, protected by the fact that, on the one hand, Washington holds talks with the regime, and on the other, in the heat of the decline of the Lima Group – which sought to isolate Chavista Venezuela – and the interim presidency of Juan Guaidó in parallel to the Maduro government. Guaidó was recognized by several governments in the region – including that of Mauricio Macri – the EU, the United States and the OAS.
Alberto Fernández and Nicolás Maduro met on May 30 in Brasilia.
Laborde in Caracas, and Cafiero in Argentina lead the negotiations on the incorporation of Venezuela into Mercosur. And they would begin with the return of the Venezuelan parliamentarians to Parlasur, a body to which the current ambassador in Caracas belonged.
Some proposed inviting Maduro to the Iguazu Summit. Lula is the legitimizing factor of the Venezuelan, whom he received with honors on May 30 at the South American summit in Brasilia.
Lula da Silva's South American summit in Brasilia, on May 30.
But Iguazú is a thornier issue considering that it is not clear the final position that Luis Lacalle Pou will have on the lifting of the suspension, among other issues.
For that matter, Maduro suspended his trip to the CELAC summit in Argentina, last January after the presidential candidate of the PRO Patricia Bullrich, asked the US DEA to order his arrest.
Because although Lacalle Pou. He also decided to send an ambassador to Caracas as a sign of "normalization" of the link, at the summit on May 30 he made clear what he thinks of the situation of human rights and democracy by criticizing some statements by Lula in his meeting with Maduro that the questions against the Venezuelan government were part of a "narrative". He also opposed the eventual rebirth of Unasur.
Lacalle Pou also did not stay at the dinner that was held that Tuesday 30 in a clear message of what he thinks.
Gabriel Boric was no less harsh on Lula. On the other hand, Alberto Fernandez met with him alone and opted for a light allusion to the Chavistas returning to the orbit of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and at the same time asked that the sanctions imposed by the United States and Europe be lifted.
Venezuela was suspended overnight in December 2016. This was formalized in August 2017. The measure had a turbulent side because in that December the always powerful Delcy Rodriguez, now vice president, appeared in Buenos Aires without being invited. Then he put on a show in the streets of Buenos Aires with marches and everything. But if that suspension was controversial because of the way it was done, also controversial was the incorporation as a full member.
It was in 2012 and it was decided by former presidents Dilma Rousseff, Cristina Kirchner, Jose "Pepe" Mujica taking advantage of the fact that they suspended Paraguay for the dismissal of Fernando Lugo, which the two presidents practically considered a "coup d'état".
This is how Venezuela entered without having fulfilled all the technical and economic steps that, for example, Bolivia has been taking to enter the bloc. In this case it only depends on the Brazilian Senate accepting it – they never approved it. Lula promises that now he will.
What the suspension says
In August, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, the four founding members of Mercosur announced:
1- To suspend the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela from all rights and obligations inherent to its status as a State Party to MERCOSUR, in accordance with the provisions of the second paragraph of Article 5 of the Protocol of Ushuaia.
The suspension referred to in the preceding paragraph shall take effect from the date of communication of this Decision to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in accordance with the provisions of Article 6 of the Protocol of Ushuaia.
2- The States Parties shall define measures with a view to minimizing the negative impacts of this suspension on the Venezuelan people.
3- The suspension will cease when, in accordance with the provisions of Article 7 of the Protocol of Ushuaia, the full restoration of democratic order in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is verified.
4-For the duration of the suspension, the provisions of paragraph iii) of Article 40 of the Protocol of Ouro Preto shall occur with the incorporation made by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, under the terms of paragraph ii) of said article.
See also