Mercosur talks about situation in Venezuela and evaluates taking measures

[G.O.G]

 

Argentine Foreign Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Raimondi announced at a press conference held at the Mercosur semi-annual summit in Mendoza on the next communiqué that the Mercosur (Common Market of the South) Foreign Ministers will hold this Friday On the current situation in Venezuela, after addressing the issue of the "social, political and humanitarian crisis" in the country.

This pronouncement would be issued by the southern member countries of the organization, as are Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. In addition, the Argentine deputy foreign minister added that they could take future sanctions on Venezuela, which are established in the Protocol of Ushuaia, created by Mercosur in 1998, which states that "in case of a breakdown of the democratic order," member countries "will promote The relevant consultations with each other and with the affected state ".

Among the main points, he said that in the Mercosur presidential event, "acts of violence will be condemned, resorting to the restoration of democratic institutions, respect for civil and political liberties and human rights." In that statement, the chancellors will call on President Nicolás Maduro to cancel the call for elections to the National Constituent Assembly, which will be held on July 30 of this year.

Raimondi clarified that the application of the Protocol of Ushuaia would not be properly sanctions. "What is involved here is to implement measures that tend to return to the path of respect for democratic order. Any measure taken should not affect the Venezuelan po[CENSORED]tion, "he said.

According to the protocol, these measures "will range from the suspension of the right to participate in the different bodies of the respective integration processes, to the suspension of rights and obligations arising from those processes."

Venezuela was suspended from the coalition of South American countries in December 2016, for failure to comply with the deadlines set in the protocol of full adhesion to the bloc for incorporation of the rules of the union to Venezuelan laws.

The Argentine deputy foreign minister explained that Mercosur is "considering now is the possibility of applying more measures in the political for this reason that we interpret that there is a rupture of the institutional order." However, he clarified that these sanctions will not be applied in the commercial field, since it does not consider the extreme expulsion of the South American block, but to a suspension for political reasons.

"You will tell me that Venezuela is already suspended for a legal reason. Does not matter. It is a political issue in this case and it is very relevant in our opinion that a regional entity can reach a consensus and pronounce as a group on this situation, "he concluded.