The leadership of the Paraguayan Senate will meet next Tuesday with a delegation of legislators from Venezuela, with whom they hope to discuss the possibility of the Caribbean country resuming the sale of fuels to the Paraguayan market.
This was anticipated by the president of the Senate, Óscar Salomón, who indicated that the board of directors of the Upper House will receive four Venezuelan deputies who are managing the re-entry of Caracas to the Mercosur Parliament, also known as Parlasur.
“Paraguay needs to get cheaper fuel today and Venezuela can give us that opportunity to buy,” the political leader told reporters.
Salomón, from the ruling Colorado Party, assured that they will listen to the position of the deputies and will take the opportunity to talk about the “impasse between Paraguay and Venezuela.”
Caracas demands payment from Asunción of a debt of some 300 million dollars that dates back to 2009, when the state-owned Petróleos Paraguayos (Petropar) began to acquire fuel from its peer, Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).
The two countries agreed to submit to arbitration by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), which in 2019 suspended its mediation at the request of Paraguay, after Asunción decided to break its relations with Caracas and not recognize the second term of Nicolás Maduro.
However, Salomón was in favor of a change of position against Venezuela, “if it is convenient for the country.”
“Even the United States is changing its position,” he argued.
Venezuela was suspended in December 2016 as a member of the Common Market of the South (Mercosur), and in August 2017 it was sanctioned with the indefinite suspension of its rights and obligations with that block made up of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay.
Paraguay has faced mobilizations and road closures in recent weeks as a result of increases in fuel prices
