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Venezuela launched an effort Monday aimed at resolving a controversy in Mercosur that saw right-wing governments move to suspend Venezuela from the South American regional bloc last week.
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Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez announced that Venezuelan officials filed a request Monday in Montevideo, Uruguay, to trigger a dispute settlement mechanism within Mercosur to address the disagreement over the status of Venezuela’s membership.
Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay have spearheaded a campaign to suspend Venezuela, claiming that the country has failed to fulfill requirements to hold on to its membership in Mercosur. But Venezuela has condemned the move a “coup,” saying it has not followed the bloc's internal regulations. Critics accuse the conservative forces within the bloc of using Venezuela’s proposed suspension as a maneuver to steer the alliance down a neoliberal path.
Uruguay, the other full member state in Mercosur, has attempted to play somewhat of a mediating role between the two sides of the conflict. The country abstained from the vote that suspended Venezuela last week. Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez has also suggested that the decision could be reversed and has offered to meet with his Venezuelan counterpart at President Nicolas Maduro’s request.
According to Venezuelan officials, Caracas’ representative in Mercosur, Jose Felix Rivas, submitted a request Monday to kick off the dispute settlement procedures enshrined in the group’s conflict resolution agreements, known as the Olivos Protocol.
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In a letter addressed to the foreign ministers and member states of Mercosur published on her Twitter account, Delcy Rodriguez indicated that Venezuela had already recommended that conflict resolution negotiations begin on Monday. She noted that access to the dispute settlement process is “in strict adherence to the norms and legal resources of Mercosur.”
The latest disputes within Mercosur come after months of controversy, sparked by a move by Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay to block the transfer of the group’s rotating presidency to Venezuela over claims it failed to fulfill its membership requirements. Dec. 1 marked the deadline set for Venezuela to satisfy the expectations, triggering the three countries to claim that Venezuela had been suspended — a decision that Caracas said was "absolutely null."
Amid flared tensions, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has slammed Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil as the “triple alliance of torturers of South America” for conspiring against Venezuela within Mercosur.
Mercosur is made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela as full members as well as five associate members, which are Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Suriname.
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