Election at the OAS

Adam Trueblood Commentary	Index
Election at the OAS The recent election of the Secretary General of the Organization of American States provided a revealing glimpse of US policy in Latin America. The OAS, founded in 1948, comprises 34 members from the Western Hemisphere, and has the primary purpose of fostering democracy and human rights in the Americas. This year’s election of the Secretary General was particularly important, as the region has experienced significant turmoil in recent years with the economic problems in Argentina, the political crises in Bolivia and Ecuador, and the conflicts brought about by the ascendancy of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Though in his recent statements directed at Russia, President Bush has trumpeted democratic values such as “freedom of the press” and “rule of law”, his administration supported Francisco Flores, former president of El Salvador, as nominee for the position. There was a clear distinction between the US choice, a former leader of a right wing government given to repressive policies and abuse of civil rights, and the nominee from Chile, Jose Miguel Insulza, who had a distinguished career as professor, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Vice-President in an openly democratic country that in recent years has forged an independent path in world politics. Francisco Flores operated on the right wing of Latin American politics during his presidency of 1999-2004. He was the only Latin American leader to support the 2002 coup in Venezuela and was also the only leader to openly support the US invasion of Iraq. El Salvador continues to be the only country in Latin America with a troop presence in the US led Iraq coalition. Given the atrocities perpetrated during the 1980’s by a repressive, US supported government in El Salvador, one would think that the United States would demonstrate more sensitivity to its legacy in this regard, and work for the nomination of an undisputed leader of democratic and human rights causes. Though a step removed from such brutal former leaders as Somoza in Nicaragua or Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, Flores’s record was bad enough that many non-governmental organizations united to denounce his nomination for the Secretary General position. Human rights groups such as the Center for Justice and International Law have condemned his record as president, including his refusal to consider investigation into the atrocities committed during the twelve year internal conflict. As leader of El Salvador, Flores refused to investigate the 1980 murder of Archbishop Oscar Romero, supported the Amnesty Law which prevented holding perpetrators of atrocities accountable, and pursued policies generally inimical to human rights. A 1996 Amnesty International report documented the resurgence of death squads, listing groups such as FURODA and Sombra Negra as authors of terror tactics, and lamented the refusal of Flores’s government to fully investigate the new groups or the crimes committed during the twelve year conflict of the 1980’s and early 1990’s. That the United States for the first time was unable to elect its candidate as head of the OAS is perhaps a sad confirmation of its continued support for anti-democratic policies that the rest of the hemisphere’s nations no longer tolerate in their chosen body for multilateral cooperation. It is also a hopeful signal that as a group, the Latin American and Caribbean nations are willing to challenge Washington’s historic dominance of the region. April, 2005