Argentinian President Alberto Fernandez and his Mexican counterpart AMLO. File photo.
After the swearing-in of Pedro Castillo as president of Peru on Wednesday, Argentine President Alberto Fernández pointed out that the Organization of American States (OAS) “has ceased to be an organization that functions and serves Latin America,” and therefore it is necessary to “create a new environment that better embodies” the region. Fernández’s statements were connected with recent statements by the Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), which were also supported and encouraged by the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro.
“Every day we continue to be amazed by the things that happen in the OAS during the administration of (Luis) Almagro,” Fernández said in a statement to local channel C5N. He recalled that this administration led the organization to participate in “an institutional coup that happened in Bolivia” in 2019.
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“La OEA ha dejado de ser un organismo que funcione y sirva a América latina. La verdad es que todos los días no paramos de asombrarnos por las cosas que pasan en la OEA durante la gestión de Almagro", @alferdez en @C5N
pic.twitter.com/LAw22btYfF— Carlos Montero (@CMonteroOficial) July 29, 2021
Fernández said that he spoke with López Obrador about creating a new system that better serves the region, and that the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) could provide that instrument. Fernández also assured that he spoke with the newly appointed president of Peru, and also with the Bolivian President Luis Arce and Guillermo Lasso of Ecuador on the subject.
“Beyond the differences that we may have, there is a very common view on the need to rebuild unity in Latin America, because in the years of former US President (Donald) Trump, between the Lima Group and the OAS, they intervened in all the organizations that had to do with unity in the region, and in that rupture we all end up estranged,” Fernández pointed out.
📺"Debemos reconstruir una unidad en Latinoamérica, que no existe. Y si fuésemos un bloque todo sería más fácil de resolver y de enfrentar. Está en nosotros concretar esa unidad y ponerla al servicio de la gente ". El presidente @alferdez en @C5N con @Gatosylvestre. pic.twitter.com/3V4ZrfMqxy
— Alberto Fernández Prensa (@alferdezprensa) July 29, 2021
Post-pandemic opportunity
“The pandemic showed how much everything costs us when we each go our own way,” added Fernández. “If we were a united block, everything would be easier to solve and face.”
He spoke of a unity that aspires not to be based on an ideological relationship, but rather would serve to benefit the most unequal continent in the world and facilitate mutual progress both politically and economically.
Featured image: Argentinian President Alberto Fernandez and his Mexican counterpart AMLO. File photo.
(RedRadioVE) by Daniela Jimenez
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SL
