Paraguay millionaire president-elect apologizes for gay slurs, speaks highly of Venezuela

CORRECTS DATE .- Paraguay's Colorado Party's Presidential candidate Horacio Cartes gives a press conference in Paraguay, Monday April 22, 2013. Cartes, a tobacco magnate, won a five-year term with 46 percent of the vote over 37 percent for Efrain Alegre of the Radical Liberal party, the Electoral Court announced after most votes were counted. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz) (The Associated Press)

CORRECTS DAY Paraguay's Colorado Party's Presidential candidate Horacio Cartes gives a press conference in Paraguay, Monday, April 22, 2013. Cartes, a tobacco magnate, won a five-year term with 46 percent of the vote over 37 percent for Efrain Alegre of the Radical Liberal party, the Electoral Court announced after most votes were counted. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz) (The Associated Press)

ASUNCION, Paraguay – Paraguay's millionaire president-elect says he'll urge the South American country's Congress to approve Venezuela's entry into the Mercosur trade bloc, and he apologized for making anti-gay comments during the campaign.

Horacio Cartes also says he transferred his interests in his dozens of companies to avoid conflicts of interests after he takes office Aug. 15.

Cartes says his sister Sarah now runs the family's businesses, which range from soy to tobacco to ranching to soft drinks, as well as Paraguay's Banco Amambay and the nation's championship football team Libertad.

Cartes said Monday that he transferred all his shares before his campaign began because his government will be devoted entirely to the public interest.