Venezuela to withdraw from Andean trade bloc
Venezuela to withdraw from Andean trade bloc
Wed Apr 19, 2006
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela, which has criticized Andean nations as being overly aligned with the United States, plans to withdraw from the Andean Community of Nations, President Hugo Chavez said on Wednesday.
The Andean Community of Nations includes Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela and Bolivia.
Chavez last year led an effort to make Venezuela a member of the southern cone trade bloc Mercosur and has blasted Andean Community members for signing free trade accords with the United States.
"Venezuela is leaving the Andean Community of Nations," Chavez said in comments broadcast by Venezuelan television after he attended a conference with South American leaders in Paraguay. "It doesn’t make sense; we have to do something else."
Chavez, a close ally of Cuba’s Fidel Castro, has harshly criticized the U.S.-backed Free Trade Area of the Americas proposal. His government has maintained a harsh war of words with Washington, and he insists free trade accords are unfair to developing nations.
Venezuela is already an associate member of Mercosur and is on track to becoming a full member of the group, which includes Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. Chavez has built strong political alliances with Mercosur governments by supplying the country’s bountiful oil at advantageous terms.
Relations with Andean nations have been tense, particularly as these countries sign trade deals with the United States. Both Peru and Colombia have signed U.S.-sponsored free trade deals, and Ecuador has faced massive protests as its government considers a similar move.
