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ECUADOR ENVOY SEEKS HEMISPHERIC SOLIDARITY AROUND POLITICAL CHANGE IN HIS COUNTRY

Seeking hemispheric support for the political thrust by Ecuador’s government, Ambassador Efrén Cocios has told the Organization of American States (OAS) Permanent Council that President Rafael Correa is aiming to “enrich and deepen Ecuador’s democratic culture, giving substance and real life to that culture as well as to the principles and rules of a participatory democracy that includes everyone, rather than just the elite.”

In his first address to the OAS’ second highest decision-making body, Ambassador Cocios told his colleague ambassadors of the member states about the effort by Ecuadorians and their “freely and democratically-elected government,” inviting the hemispheric Permanent Council members to apply the inter-American principles, instruments, programs and cooperation and support mechanisms to jointly encourage, stimulate and support his country’s “democratic and sovereign endeavor.”

The Ecuadorian Permanent Representative to the OAS cited the new manifestations of democracy since the November 2006 presidential elections and the April 2007 referendum, noting that his compatriots freely and unequivocally expressed their sovereign will in such a manner that cannot be denied by any of the complaints making the rounds in international organizations.

However, Cocios noted, “as we would have learned from history, this transformation enterprise has not been without controversy, problem or concern, because any new order will cause pain and division and sometimes even destroys the old order that delivered privileges to only a few while the majority suffered marginalization,” the Ecuadorian envoy told the Permanent Council, chaired by Venezuela’s Ambassador Jorge Valero.

He stressed the importance of the Constituent National Assembly established by Ecuador’s electoral authorities after it won an almost 80 per cent majority approval by the voters. Its members will be elected next September, Ambassador Efrén Cocios stated, adding that it will represent “an enabling, democratic and plural forum wherein the new legal and institutional order—yearned for by Ecuadorians—will be drawn up.”

The representatives of the regional blocs extended a warm welcome to the new Ecuadorian envoy, praising his personal qualities as well as his professional and political skills.

At today’s session, the following Permanent Council committees were installed: The General Committee; Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs; Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Affairs; and Committee on Inter-American Summits Management and Civil Society Participation in the Activities of the OAS. The officers for the aforementioned Committees will be elected at a future meeting of the Permanent Council.

Reference: E-156/07