The condemnation of Russia and peace in Colombia mark the first plenary session of the OAS General Assembly

The second day of the 52nd General Assembly of American States (OAS) in Lima was marked by the approval of a series of agreements and the confirmation of the positions of the member countries in the face of political events in recent weeks.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken who arrived in Peru After his tour of Colombia and Chile, he ratified in the assembly his condemnation of Russia’s intervention in Ukraine.

During his speech at the first plenary session of the OAS, Blinken described the conflict caused by Russian President Vladimir Putin as “an unjustified war”, which has only caused an increase in the price of food and energy globally.

On the other hand, Blinken also mentioned that the Biden Administration allocated 240 million dollars in new humanitarian assistance to help meet the needs of refugees and migrants in the West.

In addition, Blinken asked the countries of the region to “unequivocally condemn the authoritarian regimes in the region,” among which he cited Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela. Regarding the first, he mentioned that the Daniel Ortega regime violates the OAS democratic charter by “arbitrarily arresting the opposition, repressing protests, and committing flagrant electoral fraud.”

Blinken indicated that Cuba has hundreds of detainees after the citizen protests carried out last year. Finally, regarding Venezuela, he described its situation as a “humanitarian catastrophe” that remains unresolved under the administration of Nicolás Maduro.

“I want to be very clear: it is not about choosing sides between left and right or progressives and conservatives, it is about committing ourselves to democracy ahead of ideologies and parties,” he emphasized.

call to peace

Mario Búcaro Flores, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala, read a series of agreements signed by the 24 member nations of the OAS to ask Russia to withdraw its military troops and cease the flagrant violations of the human rights of children and the elderly in Ukrainian territory. .

In addition, he stressed that Russia’s observer status before the general assembly should continue to be suspended because it has not had an initiative for a ceasefire in Ukraine.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Suriname, Albert Ramdin, also presented the annual report of the Permanent Council, whose presidency he holds, in which eight declaratory projects that ended up being approved are addressed.

Among the most prominent was the total support for peace in Colombia, one of the the bets of the new president Gustavo Petro since he came to power last August.

Colombian Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva welcomed the support in the regional forum and indicated that his country has had a continuous process to seek peace despite the different armed conflicts that the State has had to face for several decades.

“Peace in Colombia became a national purpose, it was the need to resolve conflicts that led to the calling of the 1991 constituent assembly, which, incidentally, in which I participated,” he declared.

Leyva also recalled the effort made by the Government of Juan Manuel Santos to sign the peace agreement with the FARC in 2016. He stressed that this route will be taken by the Petro administration so that other armed structures can submit to justice.

“Total political peace, total peace no longer as a political negotiation but of justice so that these forces are welcomed in such a way that total peace is achieved beyond our borders, because we understand that appeasement must be continental,” he said.

Precisely, on Monday it was learned that officials from Petro and the National Liberation Army (ELN) agreed to resume peace negotiations in the first week of November.

Foreign Minister Leyva also highlighted that they reestablished bilateral relations with Venezuela. “2,219 kilometers of borders that were previously closed, without any connection as a State with which we have to do, because the march to freedom was achieved jointly,” he mentioned.

Conviction of attempted assassination in Argentina

Another statement that also received unanimous support was the condemnation of the assassination attempt against Argentine Vice President Cristina Kirchner last September in Buenos Aires when a citizen tried to shoot her in the head.

The Argentine deputy foreign minister, Pablo Tettamanti, thanked the gesture and pointed out that what happened with Kirchner “has been something fueled by hate speech, I think we should reflect so that this type of situation is not fueled by different sources.”

Summit 2023

Earlier, the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG) approved the calendar and work procedures to continue advancing with the fulfillment of the five commitments signed at the IX Summit of the Americas.

These are pandemic health resilience, climate change, democracy and governance, digital transformation, and economic recovery.

In addition, they approved that the Dominican Republic be the venue for the X Summit of the Americas in 2023.

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