Duque and Macri have agreed to "speed up" the Pacific-Mercosur Alliance agreement

"Mr. President, I wanted to thank you: you have been a man of principles and have accompanied this struggle against the dictatorship of (Nicolás)

Maduro

"said the President of Colombia,

Iván Duque

Cutting in his hand and staring at his smiling host.

During his first state visit to Argentina, Duque thanked

Mauricio Macri

for having accompanied the denunciation against the President of Venezuela before the International Criminal Court in the search for a "solution by democratic means" to the crisis in the Caribbean country, which resulted in the emigration of 1, 5 million Venezuelans in Colombian territory.

In compensation for this support against the Chavez regime, and in a context of
Reciprocal gestures, the Duke promised Macri to intercede with the

Pacific Alliance

accelerate the confluence of

Mercosur

with this economic bloc, the door of the Asian market.

"This will be an issue we will address at the next meeting of the Alliance," said Duque in a joint statement to the press that both presidents have delivered at the Casa Rosada's White Room, at the same time. from their bilateral meeting, during which the Government also discussed this possible confluence. "We believe that it is important to strengthen convergence with the Pacific Alliance," said Macri earlier.

The Pacific Alliance, which includes Peru, Chile, Colombia and Mexico, will meet on July 5 in Lima. The government expects to "substantially" improve ties with this trading bloc, a former wish of the president. Tempted by a block of more than 200 million inhabitants and the output of the connection with Asia, Macri even attended a meeting as an observer in Puerto Varas, in mid-2016 .

In any event, the "closest agreements" to its realization, according to the group near Macri, are those concluded with the European Union, EFTA and Canada, which were part of the conversation between the Brazilian president and his Brazilian counterpart,

Jair Bolsonaro

, last Thursday.

The common position on Venezuela, reiterated by the two presidents during their meeting with the press, had already taken shape, in a joint declaration signed by the two presidents, in which Macri and Duque reaffirmed their "absolute support" for the "president by interim "Juan Guaidó and recognized the National Assembly of Venezuela" as the only legitimate institution of the country ". And they reiterated that they would continue "to work with the international community in favor of the cessation of the usurpation, the establishment of a transitional government and the holding of". free and transparent elections with international observers ".

Duque, who dined with Macri in Olivos' villa last night, arrived at Casa Rosada at noon after lunching with Argentinian businessmen and placing a wreath at the monument in San Martín, Retiro. Immediately, the two met to give the last point to the agreements on the creative economy and on "integrity and the fight against corruption". At the ministerial level, agreements have also been signed on education, tourism and cooperation in agriculture.

When he had to speak, Macri appealed to rhetorical gestures to show his proximity to the visitor. Thus, he defined Duque as a "argentinophile", for his pbadion for tango. He also included in the eulogy and declared that they were both "exemplary singers". He simulated anger by explaining that his seven-year-old daughter Antonia was "in love" with Colombian singer Sebastián Yatra.

Both were also enthusiastic about the joint organization of Copa America next year as part of the "sports diplomacy" that drives Duque. The Colombian, who praised the president "practical and at the same time friendly," defined Macri at the lunch that followed the meeting as "a pedagogue, showing him the way to the country" and differentiating him from "demagogues, who they are bread for today and hunger for tomorrow. "They listened, among others, to the Ecuadorian consultant Jaime Durán Barba, the writer Juan José Sebreli and the actor and radical leader Luis Brandoni.