Mexican Foreign Minister Denounces Almagro's Mandate at the OAS

The Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Marcelo Ebrard, criticized this Friday at a press conference the management of the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, calling it "one of the worst in the history of the organization."

"The performance of the current secretary general of the OAS, Mr. Almagro, has been one of the worst in history, and we have said so in the sessions," Ebrard said, noting that the OAS electoral observation mission is welcome to Mexico, despite Almagro.

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"In the first place, he has acted without consulting the member states, he acts as if he were autonomous, independent, or he assumes that he does not need to consult the member states, it has been a recurrent problem during his administration," he warned.

The mission of foreign visitors of the multilateral organization expressed this May 26 its "deep concern" for the violence it observes in the framework of the electoral process in Mexico, to be held next June 6, when legislative, state, and municipal elections will take place.

"The OAS has been in Mexico in several electoral processes, it requested to be in this one; and we have a policy in which we do not prohibit any organization to send its observers, much less organizations of which we are part, they must only respect the Mexican legislation," insisted Ebrard.

"Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard on the Secretary General of the OAS Luis Almagro."

The Mexican diplomat also commented on Almagro's role with the OAS in Bolivia's political crisis following the 2019 elections and expressed his dissatisfaction with the secretary general's position.

"There are dubious and questionable actions to intervene in internal processes as was the case of Bolivia, which was opprobrious, where they practically facilitated a coup in a country with a democratic life in recent years," said the foreign minister.

Political violence in Mexico has, to date, registered more than 500 aggressions of different types, including 89 political leaders and candidates assassinated since the beginning of the electoral campaigns last September, according to civil society organizations. As a result, the OAS mission has called on political sectors to eradicate violent discourse and aggressive rhetoric.