Argentina determined to have Cuba in Mercosur

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Argentina will pressure Mercosur partner Uruguay to drop its "intransigent" opposition to the idea of offering Cuba membership in the regional trade block, according to Argentine ambassador in Havana Raul Taleb.

Earlier in the day Argentine Foreign Affairs Secretary Rafael Bielsa confirmed that “we (Argentina and Brazil) put forward the Cuban proposal but there’s a member who is in disagreement so we still have to work on the hypothesis”.

Ambassador Taleb was more explicit and said that the Argentine government would work to “persuade Uruguay to rise to the circumstance”, since integrating Cuba to Latinamerica “means acknowledging reality; the worst thing we could do is isolate Cuba”.

Since taking office this year, Argentine and Brazilian presidents Nestor Kirchner and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva have vigorously sponsored closer ties with Cuba. Mr. Kirchner in particular has made it a point to revert Argentina’s chilly policy towards Fidel Castro, in spite of the fact that the Cuban leader is at odds with his Uruguayan counterpart, Jorge Batlle.

http://www.falkland-malvinas.com/Detalle.asp?NUM=2818