The Brazilian Foreign Minister, Antonio Patriota, continues to defend Venezuela’s entry in Mercosur and the suspension of Paraguay from the bloc.

Last Wednesday (11), Patriota appeared in the Senate’s Committee for Foreign Relations and responded to criticism from parliamentarians who are contrary to the suspension of Paraguay and against the support given to Venezuela by Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina.

The minister reiterated that both decisions were adopted by common agreement between the three countries during the recent summit meeting, held in the Argentine city of Mendoza. “Paraguay will only be able to rejoin the bloc when it restores full democratic order.”

About Venezuela’s admission as a full member, which was strongly opposed by the Paraguayan Congress before the country was suspended, Patriota insisted that the country has a “strategic” economic and political importance to Mercosur.

“With Venezuela’s admission as a full member, Mercosur will extend itself from Patagonia to the Caribbean” said the minister, who highlighted Venezuela’s potential in the energy sector and its potential of “strengthening the networks of trade and investment” in the region.

According to Patriota, both the suspension of Paraguay and Venezuela’s entry were “difficult, but matured decisions, carefully adopted as to not affect the Paraguayan people” and “as a response to an unacceptable situation.”

The admission of Venezuela as a full member of Mercosur will be formalized at a special meeting to be held on June 31^st, in Rio de Janeiro.

The government of Paraguay filed a requirement last week in the Permanent Court of Mercosur to restore its rights in the bloc, which were temporarily suspended, and also presented a complaint opposing the inclusion of Venezuela as a full member.

The government’s top legal officials presented the requirement to the Permanent Court, whose headquarter is located in Asuncion, as announced last week by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Félix Fernández Estigarribia.

The complaint included a protest ​​”against the suspension of Paraguay from the bloc and the declaration by which Venezuela was incorporated as a full member, both decisions contrary to the Treaty of Asuncion, the Protocol of Ouro Preto and the general rules of international law,” according to lawyer, Ernesto Velázquez.

Velazquez, who is part of the government’s legal team, ensured that Paraguay believes that “the aforementioned provisions are null and void” and that “they cannot have legal application and effectiveness.” Moreover, the lawyer points out that the government of Federico Franco, the rightful president since the former head of state, Fernando Lugo was removed by the Senate on June 22, demands the return of Paraguay’s rights within the block.

Velazquez insisted that Mercosur has violated its own resolutions like the “principle of legal equality between states” and “the principle of nonintervention.” He detailed the process, in a document of about 60 pages. All the judges of the Permanent Court, as well as the governments of member states have a deadline of 60 to 90 days to decide on the matter.

Brasil’s embassador in Caracas, Antonio José Ferreira Simões, was mobilizing in favor to the addition of Venezuela to Mercosur. According to the Senate agency, he visited several senators last week to show the importance (especially economical importance to Brasil) of the entrance of a new partner in the economic block, in which Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay are already part of.

Simões stayed in contact with the following parliamentarians: the senate’s president, José Sarney; CRE’S (Commision of Foreign Affairs and National Defense) president, senator Eduardo Azeredo (PSDB-MG); and the rest of the senators that are part of the commission.

The diplomat informed all the parliamentarians about the numbers of bilateral commerce: i) in the last 10 years, the exchanges between the two countries increased 850%, reaching a total annual of US$ 6 billion; ii) From that total, around US$ 5.3 billions are from Brazilian exports and only US$ .7 billions are from imports, forming the highest surplus of the Brazilian trade balance.

“Mercosur needs a new impulse and this impulse could be the entrance of Venezuela”, emphasized the embassador. In his opinion, Venezuela already became the first world-wide market of Brazil for powder milk and the second market for Brazilian meat.