Guillermo Lasso arrived in Uruguay to meet Lacalle Pou

Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso arrived in the south of the continent to meet with the Argentine and Uruguayan leaders. In that sense, on Monday he was with Alberto Fernández in Buenos Aires and this Tuesday he arrived in Uruguay to meet President Luis Lacalle Pou.

Lasso travels accompanied by his chancellor, Juan Carlos Holguín, and the Ministers of Production, Foreign Trade, Investment and Fisheries, Julio José Prado, and of Telecommunications and Information Society, Vianna Maino. These trips take place in a context where Lasso seeks to strengthen foreign policy ties and advance political and commercial cooperation.

With Uruguay, the intention is to promote dialogue on several issues. The Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry itself reported that its president has come seeking to strengthen exchange on risk management, natural disasters, fight against child malnutrition, promotion of medium and small enterprises, and transparency and the fight against corruption. In addition, trade and bilateral cooperation issues will be discussed.

Lacalle Pou was the first president of the region to congratulate Lasso on his electoral victory over Andrés Arauz on April 11, 2021, when he had been in government for almost a year. However, he was unable to attend his assumption in May due to the death of the then Minister of the Interior, Jorge Larrañaga.

In Uruguay, the Ecuadorian will also meet with the Latin American Integration Association (Aladi) to “promote international relations at all levels and strengthen ties with Ecuador's traditional partners,” explained the Foreign Ministry.

Among the economic meetings that will take place, the meeting with Argentine businessman Marcos Galperín, founder and CEO of the e-commerce company Mercado Libre, also stands out on its agenda. They will meet in Uruguay because the businessman has been based in Uruguay since December 2019.

The official meeting between the two presidents is scheduled for Tuesday at 5:00 p.m., after an offering of flowers in front of the monument of José Gervasio Artigas, the national hero, in Montevideo. From Aladi's headquarters, Lasso will participate in the usual ceremony of a guayacán, a traditional tree from many South American countries, including Ecuador.

What happened in Buenos Aires

Last Monday morning, Lasso met with Alberto Fernández at Casa Rosada and held bilateral meetings with the Ministers of Productive Development and Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries.

During the meeting in Casa Rosada, President Fernández declared that he wants to “regain his diplomatic link with Venezuela.” This was what the Argentine said in a joint press conference with Guillermo Lasso. Fernández, for his part, had already announced in March his intention to appoint an ambassador to Venezuela, but this is the first time he has announced it with respect to the entire region.

“Venezuela has been through difficult times. The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michele Bachelet, has taken action on the matter and worked with the government. Many of those problems have dissipated over time and we are seeing how the agreements moved the electoral process forward. We believe that it is time to help and that in the dialogue it will regain its normal functioning as a country and as a society. We're not going to make it if we leave her alone, without ambassadors and without our attention,” Fernández said.

“I call on all countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to rethink this, and this same proposal was made today (by Monday) to President Lasso,” he added. In that context, Ecuadorian said he saw the idea “with good eyes”, but he immediately clarified that his government “is not yet ready to make a decision.”

With information from EFE

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