Mauricio Macri and Tabaré Vázquez called for "free and credible" elections in Venezuela – 13/02/2019

On the fifth trip of the Uruguayan presidency to Colonia, Mauricio Macri and Tabaré Vázquez held a two-hour meeting. They were completely alone and shared a barbecue. They then agreed to write a joint statement in which they strikingly coincided in what had kept the differences up to now: they called together to "find a democratic solution in Venezuela with free and credible elections with reliable international controls"

Vázquez's gesture of calling on his Argentine colleague to appeal to Caracas for "free" elections is the most remarkable, as the condemnation of his government against the abuses of democratic institutions by Nicolás Maduro's regime has reinforced criticism of the opposition in Uruguay and a major crack within the ruling Frente Amplio.

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While since taking office, Macri has promoted the suspension of Venezuela from Mercosur and recently recognized Juan Guaidó as interim president and called "dictator" Nicolás Maduro, the government of Frente Amplio do not participate in the Lima group – who does not recognize and puts pressure on Chavismo – and continues to recognize Nicolás Maduro as head of state. The position of the Oriental has been completely different from that of its block partners, Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.

But also, it was learned Clarin, Vázquez accepted Macri's invitation to attend the meeting of presidents of the region Sebastián Piñera met in Santiago de Chile on March 23rd. Piñera encouraged the creation of the Prosur group that would represent the "death" of the Union of South American Nations, then led by Luis Inacio Lula Da Silva, Néstor Kirchner and Hugo Chavez. Argentina and other countries of the so-called Grupo de Lima, formed at the height of the Venezuelan crisis, have temporarily withdrawn from UNASUR to protest its inaction and ideological positions condemned to Chavismo, currently chaired by Bolivian President Evo Morales. It is unknown that his Vazquez, unlike Macri, agrees with the formation of Prosur.

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The statement signed by the leaders of the bucolic estancia of Anchorena also indicates that the presidents have badyzed the situation evoked before the Mercosur – Macri is the protempore president -. "They agreed on the importance of that, to revive this process of regional integration and its modernization with regard to the prospects and modalities of concluding commercial treaties with countries outside the region or with other regional blocs. "They both updated what Macri and Brazilian Jair Bolsonaro had discussed in mid-January during Argentina's trip to Brasilia.

The statement also states: "They badyzed and expressed their views on the economic and trade prospects in the immediate future and future of both countries". And that they "agreed to continue holding periodic presidential meetings or between the teams of Presidencies to evaluate the progress of issues previously raised". Clarin He learned that Vázquez will travel to Buenos Aires at the end of March for a meeting on South-South cooperation that Chancellor Jorge Faurie is organizing in Buenos Aires and to which all UN countries are invited.

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Macri crossed the Rio de la Plata on Wednesday in a helicopter with his spokesman, Ivan Pavlovsky, and his secretary for strategic affairs, Fulvio Pompeo. It was after an invitation from Tabare, during busy days around Venezuela. Yesterday, his Foreign Minister, Rodolfo Nin Novoa, was questioned in Congress on this issue. And the press harshly criticizes the president's son for his opaque relations with Chavez.

Although Macri and Vázquez have good relations before their respective presidencies, last Thursday, the government sent no representatives to the conference organized by the Uruguayans and Mexicans to propose different solutions to the Lima group on Venezuela. In the end, he failed.

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Tabaré Vázquez and Mauricio Macri met last December, when the president protémpore del Mercosur from the presidency had been transferred to the Argentine president in Uruguay.