Venezuela and Paraguay restore travel visas

A day after ordering Paraguay's last four diplomats to leave Caracas, Venezuela "temporarily" suspended on 17 October a bilateral agreement allowing Paraguayans to travel there without visas, prompting Paraguay to reciprocate, Europa Press reported on 19 October. Bilateral ties have progressed toward a state of suspension since the parliamentary removal last June of Paraguay's leftist president Fernando Lugo, and may remain this way until 2013 when general elections are to be held in Paraguay. The diplomats ordered out on 16 October were the trade attaché, the consul and the first and second secretaries at the embassy. Trade Attaché Victor Casartelli was cited as saying that the visa move would only affect 300 Paraguayan students who could continue to study in Venezuela "perfectly normally" using "courtesy visas." It was not immediately clear which consulate would handle their interests.