Brazil rejects deadline
to approve Venezuela's
Mercosur bid
Brazil's Chief of Staff
Dilma Rousseff said on
Tuesday that "no one
will establish a
deadline" for Brazil to
approve Venezuela's bid
to join the Common
Market of the South (Mercosur).
Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez said Tuesday
on national TV that if
the Brazilian congress
does not ratify his
country's entry into
Mercosur before
September, Venezuela
will withdraw its bid to
join the trading bloc.
The process for
Venezuela to become a
full Mercosur member
started in January 2007.
Mercosur leaders have
approved Venezuela's
membership, but the deal
still needs approval
from Brazilian and
Paraguayan lawmakers.
The legislatures of
Argentina, Uruguay and
Venezuela have already
given their approval.
Rousseff said that the
Brazilian government
favors the maintenance
of economic,
geopolitical, social and
cultural integration
with all Latin American
countries, and that all
its decisions are aimed
at the development of an
agreement among the
nations.
It was not the first
time that Chavez
targeted the Brazilian
congress. In May, he
said that the Brazilian
lawmakers were
representatives of the
interests of the U.S.,
because they had openly
echoed U.S. criticism of
the Venezuelan
government's refusal to
renew the license of TV
network RCTV.
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