Mercosur nations meeting in Uruguay look for a way to include Venezuela and Ecuador 12-21-11.wmv

Montevideo, Uruguay (NTN24) - South America's Mercosur trade bloc approved a Palestinian free trade deal on Tuesday, and then pushed to admit Venezuela as a full member, even at the cost of threatening its founding principles.




The agreement with the Palestinian Authority is the first between the territories and a bloc of nations outside the Arab world, but it is mostly symbolic because Israel strictly controls imports and exports involving the West Bank and Gaza Strip.




Palestinian Exterior Minister Riyad Al Maliki thanked Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay for following through on their recognition of the Palestinian territories as a sovereign and independent nation.




The Mercosur group of four South American nations also debated a range of measures to protect their developing economies against the dumping of goods that can't find markets elsewhere because of the financial crisis in the United States and Europe.




Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, meanwhile, appeared to cause the most controversy at the meeting.




Venezuelan membership has been stalled for six years because critics of Chavez dominate Paraguay's legislature and have refused to endorse Venezuela's entry.




"It is necessary for Mercosur to reach the Caribbean and Venezuela is the entryway to the Caribbean," said Chavez during the meeting.




"This is the first time in the history of all trade blocs, that such a small group of people can stop a process like this," he added.




Mercosur rules require approval of both the executive and legislative branches of each member country.




A proposal for full Venezuelan membership was well received by the group's foreign ministers on Tuesday, according to Uruguayan officials.




It was not clear how they plan to get around the Paraguayan veto.




Venezuelan membership has been approved by Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, but the Paraguayan senate insists that Chavez won't respect the rules of democracy.




Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo favours Venezuela's inclusion, but he has hardly any votes in his country's legislature.




The arrival of Chavez at the summit suggests Mercosur countries are pushing ahead with a proposal by Uruguayan President Jose Mujica to facilitate Venezuela's entry as a full member.




Mujica, Lugo, President Cristina Fernandez of Argentina and President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil attended the summit, along with Rafael Correa of Ecuador, which also is pressing for full membership.




Trade barriers are also on the agenda.




Argentina and Brazil are seeking to protect their local industries from cheap imports that threaten to flood the developing world due to economic problems in the north.




Uruguay and Paraguay, which are less industrialised and depend more on imports, oppose blanket protections.




Earlier on Tuesday, Ivan Heyn, an Argentine deputy commerce secretary and close friend of the president's son, Maximilano Kirchner, was found hanging with a belt around his neck in his Montevideo hotel room.




Inspector Jose Luis Roldan, Uruguay's top police spokesman, called it an apparent suicide, but said the investigation was continuing.

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[22ndWave]

Is this where Kirchner murdered her deputy trade secretary? Fucking bitch.