Although Mr Chavez agreed in principle to adopt Mercosur’s common external tariff, his government has yet to implement this–or indeed any but one of the 131 formal decisions taken by the block so far, according to Paulo Roberto de Almeida, a dissident Brazilian diplomat. Under Mr Chavez, the state has taken over many industries, and non-oil exports have shrivelled. But Venezuela’s oil wealth has offered opportunities to Argentine and Brazilian companies, especially in government contracts. Its entry is of “strategic interest” to Mercosur, Brazil’s foreign minister, Antonio Patriota, said this week.