With Parallel Movements From Venezuela, Mercosur Turns Into a Ghost-Block

08/25/2016 - 11h26

Mercosur has turned into a ghost-entity: with a leaderless presidency, ever since Uruguay ended its six-month term at the end of July and the chair transfer to Venezuela didn't take place, the member who should be next-in-line to head the block according to alphabetical order.

Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay haven't accepted a Venezuelan President, but even so, Caracas pretends to hold it.

So much so that it called a meeting for this Wednesday (the 24th) in Montevideo, of what are referred to as the national coordinators (group coordinators).

Venezuela's three adversaries didn't show up, as had been expected, but even so, Venezuela's representative, Héctor Constant, wasn't shy about calling the media for a declaration (without taking any questions) in front of a small poster with the Mercosur logo and the inscription "Presidency".

Not even the Uruguayan coordinator, who went to the meeting with the Venezuelan and the delegation from Bolivia, which is in the process of joining the block, showed up for the "Presidential Communication".

He preferred to avoid the embarrassment of appearing in a photo that, in the midst of the most serious crisis in the group's 25-year history, the Venezuelan announced a plan to create a "Musical Mercosur", using the very successful experiences of children's and youth orchestras in Venezuela, Cuba, China and Russia as a reference.

Constant listed other priorities as well, including deepening contacts with Cuba, China and Russia, without concerning to know if the other partners shared these same priorities.

The Venezuelan "Presidency" also wants to continue negotiations with the European Union towards a free trade agreement. And here the interests of all of the other four partners do coincide.

Except that he forgot that in order to negotiate with the Europeans or whomever else it may be, it's necessary a Presidency to be accepted by the five full members, in accordance with Article 37 of the Ouro Preto Treaty, which defines the institutional structure of Mercosur, and establishes that decisions have to be made by consensus and with the presence of all of the country-members.

In other words, not even the meeting on Tuesday (the 23rd) between Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, without Venezuela, nor the one on Wednesday, with Venezuela and Uruguay, but without the other three was valid - which makes Mercosur a ghost-entity.

Luciana Dyniewicz, from Buenos Aires Contributed

Translated by LLOYD HARDER

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