BRASILIA: Venezuela will likely be suspended from the Mercosur regional trade bloc this week for failing to meet membership requirements, three Brazilian government sources said on Thursday, in another blow to Caracas amid a deep political and economic crisis.

Venezuela had until December 1 to meet requirements that included economic, human rights and immigration accords governing the group made up of Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and regional diplomatic heavyweight Brazil.

"Venezuela has not adopted all the membership rules and treaties it had promised," said one official directly involved in the decision, who asked not to be identified so as to speak freely. "Everything indicates that Venezuela will be suspended starting in December."

Mercosur's decision to suspend Venezuela is expected to be announced on Thursday or Friday, they said.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez said defiantly this week that her socialist-led country would not leave Mercosur and denounced what she said was a campaign by right-leaning Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay to expel Caracas from the group.

The suspension will not carry any sanctions against Venezuela, but will sideline its socialist government from bloc meetings and trade negotiations, the officials said.

In a statement on Tuesday, Venezuela's foreign ministry said the country had embraced one of the economic accords needed for membership.

Brazil's foreign ministry was not immediately available for comments.

Tensions within Mercosur reflects the changing political landscape of a region that has turned to conservative governments after years dominated by leftist leaders buoyed by a decade-long commodities boom.

Some Brazilian officials had considered delaying the suspension to avoid harming Vatican-led negotiations to ease the political crisis in Venezuela, but they later dropped those plans, said another official.

Businessmen in Brazil have complained that the presence of Venezuela, which joined the bloc in 2012, has delayed key trade and regulatory decisions.

"It's a political decision that shows Mercosur countries trying to be in line with the global reality," said Roberto Ticoulat, head of the Brazilian Council of Commercial Exporters and Importers.

"Brazil needs to be part of global trade and we can't wait any longer."