Santiago Peña Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Luis Lacalle Pou Luis Arce Alberto Fernández(until 10 december, 2023) Javier Milei The Mercosur Waterways diplomatic crisis was a regional diplomatic conflict over the free navigability of the rivers in the Río de la Plata Basin, between the government of Argentina and the rest of the countries of the main waterway of Mercosur, among which are Paraguay, Bolivia, Uruguay and Brazil.
Mercosur asked that the toll of the Argentine sector of the waterway be lifted unilaterally due to the potential damage to the development, trade and economic integration of the region.
On December 30 of that year, the aforementioned bulletin announced Resolution 1023/2022 of the Argentine State Secretariat, confirming the rates of the previous provision.
[7] In a short time, an international committee was formed that ended up being joined by Brazil to request the suspension of toll collection on the waterway.
[11] At the same time that the incident occurred, the ship HB Phoenix, flying the Bolivian flag and belonging to the same Brazilian company, reported that the Argentine authorities tried to seize it on the way, until they succeeded in the vicinity of the San Lorenzo toll area.
[12] On 1 August, the Brazilian Association for the Development of Inland Navigation (Abani) urged the Brazilian government to convene "an extraordinary meeting of the Paraguay-Paraná Waterway Agreement Commission" to present a complaint following the Argentine government's decision this year to begin charging tolls for vessels sailing north of Santa Fe.
[16] On 25 August, the Argentine transportation ministry denied any cessation of tolls on the waterway despite contradictory statements from Sergio Massa at a press conference.
Demonstrating non-compliance with a suspension of this type of actions in the river, unleashing a new wave of protests by private companies in Paraguay due to the delay in fuel.
[26] Analysts from Uruguay have warned that the decision to collect the toll affects the course of logistics that reaches Uruguayan ports from the interior of Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay, generating significant losses of money, as well as the possibility that Argentina could impose also tolls on the Argentine side of the Uruguay River affecting internal Uruguayan producers.
The last paragraphs of the statement talk about how these impositions affect the trade of the United States, as well as taking the necessary measures to defend the interests and help find an immediate solution, regretting the decision of the Argentine Government.
[28] Argentina accused Paraguay of deliberately opening the Aña Cuá gates of the same dam, releasing more than 2,000 cubic meters of water, an action that would generate lower production from the hydroelectric plant.