Media Center

Press Release

OAS Permanent Council Pays Tribute to Tamaulipas Victims and Receives Reports on Meetings of Electoral Authorities

The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) today held a minute of silence for the 72 victims of a massacre that took place several days ago in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, during a meeting in which various national representatives called for coordinated measures in the continent to protect migrants and fight organized crime.

The regular session of the Permanent Council also analyzed reports on recent meetings on electoral matters: the Seventh Inter-American Meeting of Electoral Management Bodies, held in Washington on May 6 and 7, and the Third Meeting of Experts and Representatives of Electoral Bodies of OAS Member States, held in Caracas on July 29 and 30.

Reports on Electoral Matters

The Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza, highlighted the role of the Organization in the coordination of electoral authorities of the hemisphere and expressed satisfaction that both meetings are evidence of the progress the region has experienced in the last decade in matters of elections.

“All indices show that our electoral processes have attained high levels of success, and it is important to emphasize this. This is an unprecedented fact in the world and I am very happy this has been highlighted,” he said.

The Director of the OAS Department of Democratic Sustainability and Special Missions, Raúl Alconada, presented a report on the meeting of Electoral Management Bodies held in Washington, calling it “a tool for effectively exchanging knowledge, experiences and best practices in the management of” elections in the continent.

According to Alconada, during the Seventh Meeting “a space was opened to allow members of the region’s electoral bodies to evaluate the diverse experiences of the access that political and electoral stakeholders have to the processes they manage.” At the meeting, the subject was approached from three different perspectives: “models of interaction between electoral authorities and political parties; the role of the media during elections processes; and voting access for people with disabilities.”

The Permanent Mission of Venezuela to the OAS, for its part, presented a report on the meeting of experts held in Caracas. Among its conclusions, the Venezuelan National Electoral Council was tasked with the creation of a compendium of common criteria and optimal procedures used in the continent to guarantee the management and control of electoral processes.

Coordination against Organized Crime

In reference to the mass killings in Tamaulipas, the Permanent Representative of Mexico, Gustavo Albín, reiterated his government’s “condemnation and repudiation” of the mass crime, and sent “condolences to the victims’ families” in Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. “Mexico maintains its strongest commitment with the fight against transnational organized crime,” Ambassador Albín said, expressing his “conviction” that the fight against criminal gangs “requires broad and integrated international collaboration.”

In the same spirit, the Permanent Representative of Guatemala, Jorge Skinner-Klee, noted that “concerted inter-state and inter-sector initiatives are required to confront these new criminal forms. Democratic security requires joint action based on shared responsibilities and the common duty to offer citizens an environment free of threats, especially those from drug trafficking, organized crime, human trafficking and all criminal activity endangering people’s life and rights.”

Joint Meeting with CEPCIDI

Also this morning, the Permanent Council met with the Permanent Executive Committee of the Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CEPCIDI) of the OAS, a forum for inter-American dialogue on matters of hemispheric interest pertaining to integral development.

During the session, the chairman of the Joint Working Group of the Permanent Council and CEPCIDI, and Permanent Representative of Colombia to the OAS, Ambassador Luis Alfonso Hoyos Aristizábal, presented a report on the Draft of the Social Charter of the Americas, which will strengthen the instruments of the OAS in this area. Also, the Permanent Representative of Dominica to the OAS, Hubert J. Charles, was elected by acclamation as the new chairman of the Joint Working Group. Ambassador Charles committed himself to completing the elaboration of the Social Charter in two or three months.

At the beginning of this session, the Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza, introduced the new Executive Secretary of the Executive Secretariat for Integral Development (SEDI), Ambassador Mauricio Cortes Costa, of Brazil.

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

Reference: E-313/10