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EDUARDO STEIN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF GUATEMALA, TO SPEAK AT OAS

The Former Vice President of Guatemala, Eduardo Stein, will headline the twenty-sixth Organization of American States (OAS) conference in the Lecture Series of the Americas, which will be held at OAS headquarters on Tuesday, March 25. The topic will be “The Political Strategy for Governance: The Importance of Regional Context.”

Eduardo Stein was Vice President of Guatemala from 2004-2008. Previously he headed the Foundation of the Americas, an organization which promotes strategic alliances between governmental, business and civil society sectors. Prior to that, the dignitary was an advisor for the (IOM)International Organization for Migration and consultant to several regional organizations.

Stein has an outstanding record in the promotion of democracy and has closely collaborated with the OAS in working towards this objective. He was appointed for the second time as head of the Electoral Observation Mission in Peru, between February and June of 2001, for the general elections convoked under the transitional Government of Valentin Paniagua, after the collapse of Alberto Fujimori’s Administration. He had the same responsibility during the previous year, when in 2000 he withdrew the OAS Mission before the runoff election, in protest for the serious irregularities and lack of conditions encountered. His report presented to the Permanent Council concluded that those elections “were neither free nor fair.”

Eduardo Stein was sworn in as Foreign Relations Minister in 1996 by President Alvaro Arzú, and served in that government’s cabinet until the end of the presidential term. In that capacity he participated actively in the country’s Peace Process during the final negotiating phases and in the promotion of international support for the implementation phases. Among his recent international experiences, Stein has collaborated with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), chaired the National Dialogue for the Social Security reform in Panama, and served as advisor of the National Dialogue for Compromise of the State Agenda in Peru. He is one of the 15-member International Commission on Threats to Democracy chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. He was also a member of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty.

A question-and-answer session follows the Lecture, which will be webcast live at (www.oas.org).

WHAT: Eduardo Stein, Former Guatemalan Vice President headlines OAS Lecture Series

WHEN: Tuesday, March 25, 2008- 3: 00 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time)

WHERE: Hall of the Americas
OAS Organization of American States
17th Street & Constitution Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20006

Reference: AVI-011/08