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Secretary General Insulza Highlighted the Vitality of the OAS as a Regional Organization before the Permanent Council of the Hemispheric Institution

The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) today received the report of the Secretary General, José Miguel Insulza, on his latest activities, in which he highlighted the vitality of the hemispheric institution in the region, and approved the status of Montenegro and Liechtenstein as Observer Countries at a regular meeting held at its headquarters in Washington, DC.

The Secretary General reported on his recent activities outside the OAS during the last three months, when he visited Mexico, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras and Cuba to attend different events, such as the Forum of Democracy and the seminar "A Response to Violence against Women: the Convention of Belém do Pará" in Mexico City; the Meeting of Ministers of Public Security of the Americas (MISPA) in Medellin; the meeting of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) in Bogotá, Colombia; the transfer of leadership of AMERIPOL, in San José, Costa Rica; and the inauguration of the new President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez.

The OAS leader stated that on his trip to Honduras he met with President Hernández, his predecessor, Porfirio Lobo, and during his visit to Costa Rica, he met with President Laura Chinchilla. On his trip to Cuba, the first by an OAS Secretary General to the Caribbean country in more than 50 years, to participate in the Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), he said the visit was in response to a invitation by the Cuban government, who serves as Pro Tempore Chair of the organization, and recalled that he had already attended last year's CELAC meeting held in Santiago, Chile.

Separately, the Permanent Council granted Montenegro and the Principality of Liechtenstein the status of Permanent Observers to the OAS. With today’s two additions, the OAS now has 70 Permanent Observers.

On another point on the agenda, the Council received the new Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the OAS, Marco Vinicio Albuja. Ambassador Albuja, who has held various political positions in the government of his country, recalled that he once received a scholarship from the OAS and declared his intention to “work for the interests of our countries and in particular for the interests of all the peoples of our America.” The Permanent Representative of the Dominican Republic and Chair of the Council, Pedro Vergés, welcomed him on behalf of the Council.

Also in today’s meeting, the representatives of the member countries bid farewell to the Alternate Representative of Argentina, Martin Gómez Bustillo. Secretary General Insulza highlighted that Gómez Bustillo headed the mission of his country to the OAS since 2010, and emphasized the contributions of the Argentine diplomat to the resolutions of the OAS on the claim of sovereignty of Argentina over the Malvinas Islands. Insulza further highlighted the role played by Gómez Bustillo in the situations regarding Honduras (2009), Paraguay (2012) and the debate over the strengthening of the Inter-American Human Rights System.

Upon beginning the meeting, the Council paid tribute with a minute of silence to the Mexican poet and writer José Emilio Pacheco, who recently passed away. The Permanent Representative of México, Emilio Rabasa, announced that he would donate the complete works of his fellow citizen to the Columbus Memorial Library.

During the meeting, the representatives of Mexico, Ecuador, Costa Rica (on behalf of SICA), Guyana, (on behalf of CARICOM), Venezuela (on behalf of ALADI), Canada, the United States, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Honduras, Panama, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Colombia, Barbados, Dominica, Bolivia, and El Salvador all took the floor. The Permanent Observer of Spain also spoke (on behalf of his country, Italy, and France).

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

The video of the event will be available here.

The audio of the event is available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-029/14