Mercosur Secretary General resigns and walks out from the Mendoza summit

Mercosur Secretary General Samuel Pinheiro Guimaraes resigned to his post in the midst of the Mendoza summit following a strong exchange with the group of Foreign Ministers, indicated reports from Buenos Aires.

 Pinheiro Guimaraes complained of lack of political support Pinheiro Guimaraes complained of lack of political support

The Brazilian official, according to summit sources, resigned and walked out of the meeting after presenting to the Foreign ministers his mid year report, arguing the “lack of political support and budget differences”.

In a brief message addressed to the summit, Pinheiro Guimaraes who before taking the Mercosur post was Brazil’s Presidency Strategic Affairs minister and Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs complained that his initiatives for some time “have not prospered” or for that matter “even considered”.

According to summit sources the attitude of Pinheiro Guimaraes surprised the Argentine and Uruguayan delegations, although Hector Timerman and Luis Almagro accepted the resignation with no questions.

Allegedly the outgoing official had serious differences with Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota, who has also fallen in disgrace with President Dilma Rousseff, according to Brasilia sources.

Pinheiro Guimarães became Mercosur Secretary General in January 2011 for a three year period and among his duties was to elaborate proposals and represent common policies from the group.