If Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez provides a multi-million-dollar
compensation package, Paraguay's congress will allow Venezuela to enter
Mercosur. That in a nutshell was the message this week from retired General Lino
Oviedo of the opposition Unión Nacional de Ciudadanos Éticos (Unace). After
Uruguay's President José Mujica said in Caracas last week that only “idiots"
would bar Venezuela's entry into Mercosur, President Fernando Lugo renewed his
efforts to persuade the obdurate opposition in congress to drop its “principled"
stance against Venezuela joining on the grounds that Chávez is
“anti-democratic". Oviedo, whose democratic credentials are hardly impeccable
himself, implied that these “principles" could be bought. The question is at
what price?End of preview - This article contains approximately 557 words.
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