This article was originally posted by The Independent
Once again a meeting between South American heads of state has descended into a tug-of-war over increasing tension on the Colombia/Venezuela border.
The 39th meeting of the Council of the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR) was overshadowed by the dispute engulfing two South American neighbours.
The presidents of MERCOSUR’s four full member states, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay hoped to discuss advanced economic integration along with representatives from the rest of the continent. The two day summit in the Argentinian city of San Juan was instead clouded by crisis talks aimed at restoring dialogue between Colombia and Venezuela.
Venezuela’s president Hugo Chávez rejected his invitation to Argentina at the last minute and was represented at the talks by his Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro. When Maduro was invited to talk about his nation’s conflict with Colombia by his Paraguayan counterpart Hector Lacagnata he gave the stock response.
Maduro quoted a figure of 600,000 Colombians being forced into Venezuela over the last eight years as a result of their neighbour’s civil war. Chávez’s Foreign Minister went on to say “We are a country that has been victimised by the war in Colombia.”