[NYTr] Chavez May Withdraw MERCOSUR Entry over Brazilian Conditions
 
Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2007 12:55:35 -0500 (CDT)

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ChC!vez Rejects Conditioned Entry into South American Common Market

Havana, July 4 (acn) Venezuelan President Hugo ChC!vez said Tuesday that 
his country will withdraw its bid to join South America's trading bloc 
MERCOSUR if Brazilian and Paraguayan lawmakers do not approve his 
country's membership before September.

"We are not desperate to enter MERCOSUR and much less so when we feel 
that there's little willingness within MERCOSUR for change," Chavez 
said in a nationally televised speech.

MERCOSUR leaders have approved Venezuela's entry into the bloc, but the 
deal must still be approved by Brazilian and Paraguayan lawmakers. The 
legislatures of Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuelan already have given 
their approval.

ChC!vez sees MERCOSUR as a means for South American nations to unite 
against U.S. economic and political influence in the region. But he 
said MERCOSUR member countries appear unwilling to break with 
U.S.-style capitalism.

He reasserted that if Brazil insists to make the Venezuelan membership 
in the Common Market of the South conditional, "then we are not 
becoming members."

ChC!vez branded as "imprudent" Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs 
Celso Amorin's remarks asking ChC!vez to apologize for his comments 
against the Brazilian Congress. ChC!vez added that Venezuela "has 
nothing to apologize for with the Brazilian Congress, but rather the 
Brazilian Congress should apologize for interfering with Venezuelan 
domestic affairs."

The Brazilian Parliament endorsed a resolution condemning non-renewal 
of the broadcast license for private television station RCTV.

Further, ChC!vez said that some foreign lawmakers want Venezuela to 
change its domestic policies, while others hope regulations are 
removed, "but we will not do that," he stressed.

He added that the rightwing in Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina since 
1999 "blocked the possibility for Venezuela to approach MERCOSUR."
       
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