• by IPS Correspondents
• Friday, July 06, 2012
• Inter Press Service

Jul 06 (IPS) - ASUNCIÓN, Jul 5 2012 (IPS) - Paraguay’s isolation, following the impeachment and ouster of President Fernando Lugo 11 days ago,  has grown thanks to slender recognition for the new government and souring diplomatic relations with the neighbours.

On Wednesday, Paraguay moved to downgrade diplomatic relations with Venezuela by withdrawing its ambassador in Caracas, citing “serious evidence of intervention by Venezuelan officials in the internal affairs of Paraguay.”

Lugo supporters protest on the streets of Asunción. Credit: Natalia Ruiz Díaz/IPS

Venezuela was admitted into Mercosur last week with the leaders of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay taking advantage of the temporary suspension of Paraguay from the trade bloc, citing irregularities in the impeachment of Lugo and “rupture in the democratic order.”

The Paraguayan parliament has resisted ratification of Venezuela’s  membership since 2006 when the accession protocol was signed by four Mercosur presidents. Paraguay’s suspension from Mercosur – the Southern Common Market – and Unasur, the 12-member Union of South American Nations, was decided at their consecutive summit meetings in the western Argentine city of Mendoza on Jun. 29.

“The suspension will cease when full restoration of the democratic order in (Paraguay) is verified,” says the Mercosur declaration, signed by presidents Cristina Fernández of Argentina, Dilma Rousseff of Brazil and José Mujica of Uruguay. The bloc stopped short of imposing economic sanctions.

The government of Franco, the Liberal former vice-president in Lugo’s administration, ran into difficulties soon after he was sworn in as president on Jun. 22. Only the Vatican, Canada, Germany, Spain and Taiwan have officially recognised Franco as the head of the new government.

No Latin American country has recognised Franco’s presidency as  as legitimate. At an extraordinary meeting of the permanent council of the Organisation of American States (OAS) in Washington on, Jun. 26, doubts were raised as to whether due process had been followed at Lugo’s impeachment.

On Jul. 2, OAS secretary-general José Miguel Insulza, leading a fact-finding mission, met Franco and his foreign minister Jose Fernandez Estigarribia. Insulza is expected to submit a report to the permanent council later this week.

Speculations continue over the decisions taken at the Mercosur and Unasur summits with the fact that economic sanctions were not imposed on Paraguay seen as a relief. Paraguay will continue to have access to the Mercosur Structural Convergence Fund, of which it is the main beneficiary. Paraguay is assigned 48 percent of these funds, while Uruguay receives 32 percent and the remaining 20 percent goes to Argentina and Brazil.

© Inter Press Service (2012) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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