E-011/2000
January 19, 2000

NEW ENVOYS ADDRESS FIRST OAS
PERMANENT COUNCIL SESSION FOR THE YEAR

 

The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) met on Wednesday for its first sitting this year and, among a long list of agenda items, heard three new ambassadors deliver their "maiden" speeches.

Asserting the protection of human rights to be "at the heart of democratic societies," Ambassador Luis J. Lauredo, the new Permanent Representative of the United States to the OAS said he would make human rights a top priority issue.

Ambassador Lauredo challenged the Organization to be proactive in defending "democratic institutions, freedom of the press, and the supremacy of the individual, and his rights, over the power of the state."

For her part, the new Ambassador of El Salvador, Margarita Escobar, restated her commitment to working with the OAS on major efforts that include building democracy, human rights, integration and sustainable development while combating poverty and discrimination in the nations of the Americas.

Bolivia’s new Ambassador, Marcelo Ostria Trigo, outlined his government’s efforts to tackle illegal drugs, recalling that President Hugo Banzer was among the first to call for a collective mechanism to evaluate progress in the war on narcotics.

Wednesday’s sitting of the Permanent Council was chaired for the first time by Ambassador James Murphy of Belize who received the gavel January 18 from outgoing Chairperson Ambassador Sir Courtney Blackman, Permanent Representative of Barbados.

 

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