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(E-136/00)
July 17, 2000

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC MINISTER LEADS
OAS SPECIAL MISSION TO PERU MONDAY

The Dominican Republic's Foreign Minister, Eduardo Latorre, is leading a Special Mission of the Organization of American States (OAS) that arrives in Lima, Peru, on Monday, July 17,2000. The purpose of the two-day visit is to bring the relevant parties together to implement an agreement worked out during last month's visit by Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy and OAS Secretary General C�sar Gaviria.

Canada's Ambassador to the OAS, Peter Boehm, and the Secretary General's Chief of Staff, Fernando Jaramillo, are accompanying Mr. Latorre, the Permanent Secretary of the Mission, on this trip to Lima. Mr. Latorre's role is to facilitate dialogue among various segments of Peruvian civil society and government, monitor the strengthening of Peru's democratic institutions, and implement the recommendations made by the Special Mission which visited Peru last June 28 to 29.

The OAS Special Mission will meet with Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, opposition leader Alejandro Toledo, top government officials, political leaders, and representatives of the private sector, the Church and civil society, among others.

This Special Mission is being undertaken at the invitation of the Government of Peru and pursuant to an OAS General Assembly mandate from it's last session in Windsor, Canada in June.

Foreign Minister Latorre has taught at several universities in the Dominican Republic and the United States and has been a columnist for El Siglo and List�n Diario newspapers. He has served as Executive Secretary of the Latin American and Caribbean Sugar Exporting Countries (GEPLACEA). He was also Executive Director of the Dominican Development Foundation and Rector of INTEC University. Foreign Minister Latorre took a leave of absence from his Foreign Ministry to conduct the current Special Mission.