Bolivia and Venezuela supported the recent proposal by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to replace the Organization of American States (OAS) with an independent body.
Last Saturday, López Obrador proposed “build something like the European Union”, but “attached” to the history, reality and identities of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. “In that spirit, the replacement of the OAS by a truly autonomous body, not a lackey of anyone, but a mediator at the request and acceptance of the parties in conflict in matters of human rights and democracy should not be ruled out,” said the Mexican president during a ceremony to commemorate the 238 years since the birth of Simón Bolívar.
According to the president, “It is now time for a new coexistence among all the countries of America”. “We must put aside the dilemma of joining the United States or opposing ourselves defensively, it is time to express and explore another option: dialogue with the US rulers, convince them and persuade them that a new relationship between the countries America is possible, “he stressed.
López Obrador’s proposal received the support of his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolás Maduro, who asserted last week during an interview with the TeleSur channel that the OAS “has been dead for a long time”. “The OAS is a nefarious organization, it is a demon and if you give a demon a small chance, the demon will be on you. […] It cannot be given any opportunity, “declared Maduro, who also called for strengthening the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
The president of Bolivia, Luis Arce, spoke in the same tone. “We echo the words of Brother Andrés Manuel López Obrador on the idea of replacing the OAS with another truly autonomous body that expresses regional balances, respects the self-determination of the peoples and no room for the hegemony of a single state“, wrote this Monday, Arce on his Twitter account.
However, they also heard critical voices to the proposal of the Mexican president. Thus, the Foreign Minister of Colombia, Marta Lucía Ramírez, opposed the idea of replacing the OAS and raised that “extra-regional cooperation should include closer relations with the US and Canada.”
Criticisms of Mexico towards the OAS
The Government of Mexico has been critical of the Organization of American States, whose headquarters are in Washington (USA), and, in particular, of its boss, Luis Almagro.
In June, the Mexican Foreign Minister, Marcelo Ebrard, affirmed that Almagro’s work at the head of the OAS has been “one of the worst managements” in “all history” of the organization.
Ebrard criticized that Almagro acted unilaterally in regional disputes, specifically pointing out his role during the coup in Bolivia, in November 2019. “He has acted repeatedly without consulting the States, he acts as autonomous, he assumes that he does not need to consult them. It has taken very dubious actions such as the case of Bolivia, it was disgracefulThey practically facilitated a coup, “he said.
Meanwhile, the political analyst and doctor in political science from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Rafael de la Garza Talavera, considered López Obrador’s proposal positive and assured that a new geopolitical future with less dependence on the United States could already be drawn. .
