Delegates from Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina and Uruguay agreed last night that today more than ever, solidarity is needed to face the onslaught of the right wing, which seeks to roll back the conquests achieved in the last decade.
In statements to Prensa Latina, Venezuelan Jorge Rodríguez, mayor of the Libertador municipality of Caracas, said that times in Latin America have changed forever since the time when President Hugo Chávez was a lone voice.
That is why Social Mercosur was created, he said, and added that the mechanism goes beyond trade and economic relations between countries, and looks after the needs of the people to take the majority out of poverty and provide education, health and food for all.
The Caracas mayor said he was proud that his country was, this month, the pro tempore presidency of the Southern Common Market and Social Mercosur.
Referring yesterday to the objection by the governments of Paraguay and Brazil to Venezuela assuming the rotating presidency of Mercosur, Rodríguez said it seemed that the world was upside down because the foreign ministers of these countries come precisely “from governments that staged coups against legitimate presidents.”
Yesterday while inaugurating the 20th Mercosur Social Summit, the High General Representative, Florisvaldo Fier, stressed that the destiny of the block was not only in the hands of governments and institutions of the member States, but also in the people’s hands.
