Washington (BLAZETRENDS)
“The OAS does not compete with anyone. We have a very great legacy as we are the oldest multilateral organization in the world, but with the greatest validity on the political agenda in the hemisphere,” Almagro said at the assembly’s inaugural press conference.
The 53rd OAS General Assembly will be held in Washington from this Wednesday to Friday. It will be attended by 24 foreign ministers from the 34 American countries that make up the organization.
The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, and the Foreign Ministers of Chile, Alberto van Klaveren; from Peru, Ana Cecilia Gervasi. From Costa Rica, Arnoldo André Tinoco; from Ecuador, Gustavo Manrique; from Guatemala, Mario Búcaro, and from Panama, Janaina Tewaney, among others.
Instead, countries like Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia and Colombia, which have had critical speeches with the operation of the OAS, will be represented by officials of lower ranks.
The 53rd OAS General Assembly
However, Almagro stated that “there are many more issues of union and convergence” between the American countries than the differences that separate them.
In addition, he was of the opinion that the agenda of the General Assembly, the ninth that Almagro presides over as Secretary General, shows that the OAS is “the main political forum” of the continent.
Asked by other organizations in the region, such as the Sao Paulo Forum, which will bring together progressive parties from the region in June in Brazil, he said that the OAS does not have “problems” in that there are subregional organizations that “work well.”
“Everything that is positive and gives results relieves our work, which today is overloaded. Everything is fine for us, ”Almagro replied, while he called for“ working together ”avoiding polarization.
The main points are a resolution to provide the Haitian police with resources in the face of the social crisis in the Caribbean country. As well as a condemnation of the repression of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua.
The OAS assembly, the body that expelled Russia as an observer member for the war in Ukraine, will also have a video message from the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski.
tributes
The 50th anniversary of the coup in Chile against Salvador Allende will also be commemorated. And a tribute will be made to the legacy of former US President Jimmy Carter and former OAS Secretary General João Clemente Baena, who died this month.
Asked about Brazil’s attempt to soften the resolution against Nicaragua. Almagro responded that he has the “deepest respect” for the position of the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Regarding the resolution, he said that it is “one more effort by the organization to condemn the lack of democracy in Nicaragua and the systematic violations of human rights by the regime.”
He also affirmed that the efforts of the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, so that Venezuela returns to the Inter-American System of Human Rights are “extraordinarily welcome”, but warned that Caracas does not yet meet the standards of a democratic country.
“There are no visible advances either in the democratic functioning of the country or in the protection of human rights, or in the situation of political prisoners or in Justice,” said Almagro, who criticized that in the South American country there is no “separation of powers”.
During the General Assembly held last year in Peru, it emerged that Almagro was the subject of an internal investigation for an intimate relationship with an employee of the agency.
The investigations concluded last April that the Uruguayan politician’s relationship was not ethical. But he exempted him from having violated the rules related to conflict of interest.
Zelensky invites the American countries to the summit for peace
The president of Ukraine, Volodímir Zelenski, invites the countries of the Organization of American States (OAS) to the international summit that he wants to convene to achieve peace in his country and which could be held in July.
“To restore peace we need a collective effort and, of course, in particular, your support and leadership,” he said in a video message issued during the 53rd OAS General Assembly, which brings together various foreign ministers from the region in Washington.
Zelensky urged the 35 member states of the Pan-American organization to join Ukraine and “all the free nations of the world” to implement the so-called Ukrainian Peace Formula and participate in the “World Summit for Peace.”
Zelensky’s government is working to get as many countries as possible to participate in a summit that plans to focus on the so-called Ukrainian Peace Formula, which includes ten proposals to end the war in Ukraine, including Russia’s complete withdrawal from its territory.