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Brazil's former FM slams gov't stance against Venezuela's turn at Mercosur

Xinhua, August 25, 2016 Adjust font size:

Brazil's former Foreign Affairs Minister Celso Amorim on Wednesday slammed the government for rejecting Venezuela's turn at the helm of trade bloc Mercosur.

"You cannot exclude a country because you don't like its politics," Amorim told the state-run Agencia Brasil news agency.

Such political scuffles with neighboring countries can additionally have negative economic impacts, he warned, calling for dialogue.

Brazil's right-leaning government has balked at socialist-ruled Venezuela taking over the rotating presidency of the five-member Southern Common Market (Mercosur), as it was set to do after also-member Uruguay ended its six-month turn in July.

Argentina and Paraguay joined Brazil in rejecting Venezuela's leadership stint, and the tussle is threatening to sink one of South America's oldest trade and integration blocs.

Last week, Brazil's current Foreign Affairs Minister Jose Serra went as far as to welcome members of Venezuela's right-wing political opposition in Brasilia.

Serra accused Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of heading "an authoritarian and anti-democratic regime" that failed to uphold Mercosur's democratic principles.

Brazil's position on Venezuela could have "a grave impact on Mercosur" and "in reality violates a basic article, which is that the presidency of Mercosur must pass from one country to another in alphabetical order. Nowhere does it say that it has to be by consensus," said Amorim.

Amorim served as foreign minister under former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2010), and as defense minister during the first term of Brazil's suspended president Dilma Rousseff (2011-2014). Enditem