Economy
The Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Brazilian Senate approved on Thursday Venezuela's Protocol of Accession to the Common Market of the South (Mercosur) and will submit it to the plenary session of the Senate for a final vote, which could be held next week.

The entry of Venezuela to South America's biggest trade bloc, which has already been endorsed by the parliaments of Argentina and Uruguay and is awaiting debate in the Paraguayan Congress, was approved, after a heated argument, by 11 out of the 19 members of the Committee, most of them Congressmen of the ruling party group.

Opposition Senator Tasso Jereissati, the rapporteur of the group, had recommended keeping Venezuela out of the trade bloc, in a report that harshly criticized the alleged "authoritarian character" of President Hugo Chávez.

During the debate, the opposition reiterated its rejection of Venezuela's entry into Mercosur, due to the alleged "lack of freedom" in the South American country, which they described as "violations of the democratic clause" that is in force in the bloc.