Economy
Antonio Ledezma, the Caracas Metropolitan Mayor, who was scheduled to appear on Thursday before a Brazilian Senate panel that analyzes the Venezuelan entry into the Common Market of the South (Mercosur), has postponed his appearance until next week, official sources said.

"The meeting has been scheduled for October 27, due to "scheduling problems" of Caracas Mayor," sources of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Brazilian Senate told Efe.

The Committee is holding its final deliberations about the protocol of accession of Venezuela into Mercosur, which was already approved by the governments of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay in June 2006.

However, the document has only been ratified so far by the congresses of Argentina and Uruguay, while the discussion on Venezuela's entry was temporarily withdrawn from the Congress of Paraguay's agenda by the government of President Fernando Lugo, after it found that there was not a favorable climate for its approval.

In the case of Brazil, if the protocol is approved by the Committee on Foreign Relations, it will be submitted later to the Senate for a final vote.

Brazilian Senator Tasso Jereissati, a businessman and member of the Brazilian Social Democratic Party and rapporteur of the case before the Committee, has expressed a strong opposition to the entry of Venezuela to the economic block, due to the "authoritarian character" of Hugo Chávez's government, Efe said.