"Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva warned about US military presence in the Caribbean on Saturday as he called for regional unity in the face of such threats while speaking at the inauguration of the Mercosur summit in Foz de Iguacu. "More than four decades have passed since the Malvinas War, and the South American continent is once again being threatened by the military presence of an extra-regional power," he stated. "An armed intervention in Venezuela would be a humanitarian disaster for the hemisphere and a dangerous precedent for the world," he added. Lula also addressed negotiations between Mercosur and the European Union, noting that the delay in signing the agreement was due to internal disputes within the EU, especially with Italy. "Meloni [prime minister of Italy] said that the distribution of funds for agriculture in the European Union was harming Italy, which is why she could not sign," the president said. "I had a conversation with her by telephone. She said verbatim that at the beginning of January, she would be ready to sign. If she is ready to sign, only France would be missing," he continued. The EU-Mercosur trade agreement, which aims to reduce tariffs between the EU and South American nations, has faced strong opposition from farming unions across Europe. Its approval was recently postponed until January."