Tuesday, October 25, 2016 Macri: ‘Venezuela must leave Mercosur’President says human rights are ‘not respected’ by Caracas government as he hosts VázquezPresident Mauricio Macri reiterated his previous calls for Venezuela to be suspended from the Mercosur regional trading bloc yesterday as he met with Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez in the capital, with both heads of state citing major worriers over the state of human rights in the country. The statement released by the (Venezuelan) congress is overwhelming and we have confirmed together that under these circumstances, Venezuela cannot be a part of Mercosur,” Macri said during a press conference at the presidential residency in Olivos. “As I have said before, in Venezuela, human rights are not respected ... the conditions (now) exist for the evocation of the democratic clause” of the Mercosur, Macri said, suggesting that Venezuela should be suspended from the trading bloc by a consensus of the other member states (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay). Since his election late last year, Macri has repeatedly rebuked Venezuela’s socialist government and denounced various “abuses” he says they are committing in country. Macri said that the Venezuelan opposition’s statement suggested that a “state coup” was underway in Venezuela, echoing their language and cited the opposition declaration that said Maduro had violated the national Constitution by axeing the recall referendum.

Source: Bueno Aires Herald October 25, 2016 03:11 UTC