Western Hemisphere
Caracas Metropolitan Mayor, Antonio Ledezma, a leading opposition figure in Venezuela, met on Tuesday four hours with the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Brazilian Senate and requested it to allow the entry of Venezuela into the Common Market of the South (Mercosur).

The Mayor said that rejecting the protocol of accession does not serve the interests of democracy in Venezuela: "The more isolated (Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez) is, the more dangerous he is for the country," Ledezma said, as reported by DPA.

Ledezma said that Chávez, "is playing at being isolationist", as reflected in his decision to withdraw Venezuela from the Andean Community of Nations and the deterioration of relations with countries such as Colombia, United States and Israel.

Meanwhile, Ledezma's testimony before the Committee on Foreign Relations was welcomed by the Brazilian government. Alexandre Padilha, the Brazilian Minister of Institutional Relations, said that the presence of Antonio Ledezma "is important," because he is one on the most prominent opponents of Chávez, and despite this, he is defending the approval of the Protocol of Accession.

Translated by Gerardo Cárdenas

Reyes Theis
EL UNIVERSAL