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LatinNews Daily - 03 August 2016

Mercosur crisis deepens as Brazil also refuses to recognise Venezuela

Development: On 2 August Brazil’s foreign ministry sent a letter to all its fellow members of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) regional trade bloc stating that it does not recognise Venezuela as Mercosur’s current pro-tempore president and that it considers this position to be “vacant”. 

Significance: The stance adopted by Brazil over Venezuela’s announcement that it now holds the Mercosur presidency after Uruguay formally relinquished it without there being consensus within the bloc over whether Venezuela should be allowed to assume the presidency, is in line with that adopted by Paraguay. Meanwhile the remaining Mercosur member, Argentina, has also refused to recognise Venezuela as the bloc’s legitimate president and called for a meeting of all members to find a solution to the current institutional crisis. With only Uruguay supporting Venezuela’s presidency, the Andean country’s position within the bloc is now severely weakened. But rather than adopt a conciliatory stance, the embattled government led by President Nicolás Maduro has reacted aggressively accusing Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay of conspiring to try to undermine it.

  • The letter signed by Brazil’s foreign minister, José Serra, was published in Brazilian daily O Estado de São Paulo. It states that the Brazilian government “understands that the Mercosur pro-tempore presidency is vacant, as there was no consensual decision regarding who should exercise it”. The language is almost identical to that used by Paraguay. Meanwhile in a 1 August statement Argentina’s foreign ministry said that “Argentina considers that no country can assume Mercosur’s presidency without a formal handover and proposes a meeting of coordinators to solve this issue”.
  • Serra was also critical of Uruguay’s decision to abandon the Mercosur presidency without ensuring its transfer to another member. Serra said that this had produced “uncertainty” about the bloc’s inner workings. This criticism was echoed by Argentina and Paraguay yesterday. Argentina’s foreign ministry said that Uruguay’s decision had led to “Mercosur’s worst crisis since its creation 25 years ago”, producing “a paralysis that has…negative consequences for all member states”. Meanwhile Paraguay’s foreign ministry said that by abandoning the presidency, “Uruguay had dropped the ball and that Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay are going to have to pick it up”.
  • However, the Maduro government responded in typically abrasive fashion. A statement by Venezuela’s foreign ministry said that “as the sitting Mercosur president, Venezuela denounces the machinations of the extreme Right…comprised of a new triple alliance…[which] through legalistic manoeuvres is trying to undermine the rule of law”. It goes on to accuse this "triple alliance" (an allusion to that formed by Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay to wage war against Paraguay in the 19th century) of seeking to “harass and criminalise Venezuela’s development model and democracy”.

Looking Ahead: With Serra stating in a recent interview that admitting Venezuela as a full Mercosur member in 2012 had been “a mistake”, as the Andean country has yet to meet all the provisions necessary for membership, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay could now move to try and suspend Venezuela from the bloc to try to restore some internal order. 

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