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New Representative of Mexico to the OAS Presents Credentials

The new Permanent Representative of Mexico to the Organization of American States (OAS), Ambassador Joel Hernández, today presented to Secretary General José Miguel Insulza the credentials that accredit him before said organization.

During the ceremony, held in the main building of the OAS in Washington, DC, Ambassador Hernández asserted that “the OAS has a special meaning for Mexico” since “it is the hemispheric organization par excellence, where we can face the global challenges that the 21st century has brought to our region.” He also said that “we wish for the OAS to be more and more an efficient and relevant organization for the region, capable of promoting the strengthening of democracy, the promotion and protection of human rights, international cooperation and integral development in benefit of our peoples.” Finally, he recalled his commitment to “carry out this task with a vision based on joint and constructive collaboration that achieves economic, political and social development in benefit of all our peoples.”

Secretary General Insulza welcomed the Mexican diplomat by observing that his arrival coincides with the tenth anniversary of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, “which constitutes one of our principal tasks, the issue of forging in the Americas a fully democratic system, one that is flexible and plural, around certain principles that are fundamental for us to be able to speak of democracy.”

“We hope to rely on your participation in this debate, which is a constitutional debate that deals with how to strengthen those principles on which any democracy in any place is founded,” he concluded.

At the event, the head of the OAS also recalled the “dramatic events” seen in Mexico in recent times and expressed his “solidarity with the enormous efforts that the democratic government of President Felipe Calderón is carrying out to face the scourge of organized crime and drug trafficking. I think that clear, straight and direct approach is an approach that deserves the support of all of us.”

Ambassador Hernández has a law degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and a Master’s degree in International Law from the School of Law of the University of New York. In the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs he has been a legal advisor, and has filled the posts of Director General for the United Nations System and Assistant Legal Advisor, among others. He also served as Alternate Consul of Mexico in New York from 1995 to 1999, and Alternate Representative of Mexico to the Office of the United Nations in Vienna from 1999 to 2001.

Also present at the event were the Assistant Secretary General, Albert Ramdin; representatives of various of the member countries of the OAS, as well as of observer countries; and high-level officials at the hemispheric organization.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

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

Reference: E-805/11