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Venezuela raises Mercosur flag in show of taking on presidency amid controversy

Xinhua, August 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Venezuelan government Friday raised the flag of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) bloc outside its Foreign Ministry to show that it will take on the rotating presidency despite disagreements from Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil.

In a ceremony, Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez denounced a "boycott" from Mercosur's founding members, except Uruguay, who all voted against handing the presidency to Venezuela in a meeting Thursday in Montevideo.

"The norms are very clear, the rotating presidency belongs to Venezuela by right and there is no call for any kind of political interpretation," said Rodriguez.

On Thursday, Brazil also proposed that all Mercosur nations create "an informal council" to run the bloc until January 2017, when Argentina is set to take over.

Representatives from Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay believed that Venezuela's current crisis means the country is not positioned to assume presidency.

Uruguay, however, maintains that the alphabetical order must be followed and Venezuela must take over the rotating presidency from it as planned. It also rejected a proposal by Buenos Aires that Argentina, being next in line, should take over the presidency.

On Friday, Rodriguez said the proposal "would supplant the legal mandate with political arguments and conflicting ideologies, placing this regional bloc close to a point of no return."

"This attempted assault on the strength of Mercosur is being encouraged from Washington," she said, adding that the governments of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil were violating the laws of Mercosur.

In the coming days, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is expected to announce a series of activities and events linked to Mercosur. Enditem