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President of Guatemala Grateful to OAS for Support During Political Crisis

The President of the Republic of Guatemala, Álvaro Colom, today thanked the Organization of American States (OAS) before its Permanent Council for the role the hemispheric organization and its Secretary General, José Miguel Insulza, played during the political crisis Guatemala went through in the months following May 10, 2009.

“The decisive and rightful role of the Permanent Council and the unconditional solidarity that the hemisphere offered Guatemala at that time, combined with the rightful initiatives of the Secretary General, were determining in preventing a greater crisis and stopping an unjustified but understandable political attack on my government,” Colom said during a protocolary session of the Council held in his honor at OAS headquarters in Washington, D.C.

During the said crisis, in which the Guatemalan President was accused of being involved in the death of Rodrigo Rosenberg, a lawyer, the Government of President Colom invoked the Inter-American Democratic Charter of the OAS “in defense of Guatemalan democracy and its institutional political process.” “The dramatic circumstances of that moment called for the application of this important tool to avoid a breakdown of democracy, and the Permanent Council immediately offered its unconditional support,” the President said.

“The Secretary General not only met the mandate of the Permanent Council, but in his very particular way of speaking to all sectors, and in a very few hours, abated many aggravations that were later appeased and soothed,” he said.

“You uprightly met with the historic responsibility of the Inter-American Democratic Charter in my country and I am a living witness of the effectiveness of the Charter,” President Colom stated.

For his part, the Secretary General said “it was not difficult for the Permanent Council and this Secretary General to act in an opportune way at the request of your Government in the Framework of the Inter-American Democratic Charter.” “We are very proud of having had the opportunity to show in a unanimous way in this Council the relevance of this document and having offered support that was as well deserved as yours,” he added.

“There were no dissonant voices in the Council, no words of doubt, there was only a clear and decided willingness on the part of all to help at a time we felt democracy in Guatemala was going through a difficult time. Because we knew your trajectory, because we knew your intentions and the personal history of many of those who accompanied you, we knew the accusations against you could not be true,” the Secretary General asserted.

Reference: E-039/10