President-elect Jair Bolsonaro has accused Venezuela's leftist government of violating Mercosur's democratic clause, and said the country should be expelled from the economic alliance.



Bolsonaro made the remarks in an interview with Brazilian local media, where he also spoke about his plans for his transition to power.



The Mercosur trade bloc consists of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela, which joined the alliance in 2012.

Bolsonaro's remarks are likely to antagonize the regime of President Nicolas Maduro and could endanger Venezuela's already precarious status in the South American economic bloc.

Mercosur members have been expressing concerns about Venezuela's political and economic situation since 2016. As a result, Venezuela gave up its rotating presidency and was eventually suspended from the bloc.

Read more: Mercosur: Just an ordinary family?

Watch video 01:39 Share Brazil's markets react positively to new president Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/37M6v Brazil's markets react positively to new president

Hard line against Venezuela

Bolsonaro has been seen as someone who could take a harder line with Maduro's regime.

US national security adviser John Bolton said last week that Bolsonaro's win, along with Ivan Duque's victory in Colombia, were "positive signs for the future of the region" that demonstrate a regional commitment to free markets and "accountable governance."

"The troika of tyranny in this hemisphere will not endure forever," Bolton said about the governments of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

Read more: Opinion: Brazilians were simply fed up

Economic reforms

As Bolsonaro prepares for his inauguration on January 1, the president-elect has said he will evaluate all the data necessary to carry out a "restructuring" of the country.

Read more: Will Bolsonaro deliver on promised economic reforms?

"The preliminary numbers that we have received are troublesome," Bolsonaro said, in reference to state-run firms. In particular, he pointed to what he saw as mismanagement by the leftist Worker's Party at the state-owned oil company Petrobras.

"We do not want to chase anyone, but we do want to privatize some state-owned firms, although not the most strategic ones," he said.

Bolsonaro also signaled his intention to overhaul Brazil's troubled pension system and said he wanted to lower taxes "responsibly."

With a team of orthodox economists, Bolsonaro is hoping to tackle the country's budget deficit to usher in new investment and spur economic growth, in an economy that is barely emerging from its worst recession.

The perilous flight out of Venezuela Iconic image Each day 30,000 to 40,000 people cross the 315-meter-long (1,000-foot-long) Simon Bolivar bridge (pictured) between Venezuela and Colombia. Since September 2015 some 20 million Venezuelans have crossed into the neighboring Colombian province of Norte de Santander, says its governor William Villamizar. At the same time, he adds, 17 million individuals have been registered as entering Venezuela.

The perilous flight out of Venezuela Shopping over the border Most Venezuelans come to Colombia to stock up on basic food stuff and medicine. It is cheaper there than in their own country, where inflation has spiraled out of control and made the Bolivar, Venezuela's currency, nearly worthless. Some 3 million citizens are thought to have permanently migrated to Colombia.

The perilous flight out of Venezuela Refugiados welcome? Colombians initially welcomed fleeing Venezuelans with open arms, just like Germans welcomed refugees in summer 2015. But now, experts say, the mood has shifted. Many have begun demanding the government provide less financial support to refugees and instead invest more in helping ordinary Colombians. However, aid for refugees is still provided in reception centers (above).

The perilous flight out of Venezuela Heading south According to official figures, approximately 1 million Venezuelan nationals currently reside in Colombia. Given that a total of 3 million Venezuelans crossed into Colombia, about 2 million must have traveled onward. In the first half of 2018 alone, over 500,000 of them migrated to Colombia's southern neighbor Ecuador.

The perilous flight out of Venezuela Stopover in Ecuador Ecuadorian authorities estimate that only 20 percent of Venezuelan nationals who arrived in the country in 2018 permanently settled there, like this family living in a makeshift camp near the capital, Quito. Most Venezuelans presumably intend to keep on traveling southward and reach either Peru, Chile or Argentina.

The perilous flight out of Venezuela Hitting the brakes After several days when some 5,000 Venezuelans wanted to cross from Colombia into Ecuador, Quito began demanding that Venezuelan nationals show valid passports to emigrate, rather than just an ID as was previously needed. This new regulation applies to adults. For children, proof of paternity and parental passports is enough to let them cross the border.

The perilous flight out of Venezuela Chain reaction After Ecuador Peru followed suit, announcing it would implement the same regulation in the near future. Peruvian Interior Minister Mauro Medina said that about 80 percent of Venezuelan refugees arrive with valid passports, but many Venezuelan NGOs warn that passports have now become luxury items in the crisis-stricken country, requiring large sums of cash or high-level contacts to acquire one.

The perilous flight out of Venezuela Tension in the air More than 100,000 Venezuelans have migrated to Brazil since 2016, most of them to the country's north. From there, roughly half them travel onward to Ecuador and Peru. The situation in northern Brazil is tense: The country's government has said it will redistribute Venezuelan immigrants to other regions. Critics have accused the government authorities of failing to support Brazil's border region.

The perilous flight out of Venezuela Attacks and confrontations Last weekend, local residents in the Brazilian border town of Pacaraima attacked makeshift camps housing Venezuelan refugees. They set their dwellings on fire and drove hundreds back across the border. Media reports say Brazilian police did nothing to stop the mob violence. The attack was said to be triggered by the robbery of a Brazilian businessman — a crime allegedly committed by refugees. Author: Jan D. Walter



jcg/cmk (EFE, Reuters)

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.