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 News from Around the Americas | June 2005 
Mexico Rejects 'Tutelage' on Democracy
 El Universal
| | Forbes.com ranked U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as the world's most powerful woman. |
The Mexican government on Monday expressed reservations in the face of a U.S. proposal for mechanisms to protect democracies through the Organization of American States.
"In principle, we are not in agreement with any tutelage from anybody," presidential spokesman Rubén Águilar said at a press conference in Mexico City. "Yes, we are in agreement with expanding the respect for human rights."
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday told OAS delegates meeting in Florida that the regional organization cannot carry out its pro-democracy mandate without the ability to help in times of crisis.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez maintains the U.S. proposal is a ploy to justify U.S. intervention in the hemisphere.
Brazil and several other countries were working on a counterproposal to a U.S. draft document to "avoid intruding mechanisms," according to a statement from Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim.
Águilar, President Vicente Fox's spokesman, said Mexico's complete position on monitoring democracy would be made public following further discussions with OAS representatives in Florida.
Speaking to reporters in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez said Mexico supports a more active OAS stance in defense of democracy even mentioning the word "intervention," long a no-no in Mexican foreign policy but said more nations would have to be involved in discussing such actions.
"Our concern is that all the conflicts there might be in the region be resolved through the intervention of the OAS, an intervention that respects the democracy of each country," Derbez said in a transcript released in Mexico City.
But he quickly cautioned that "that should not be misunderstood as any kind of mechanism in which the OAS tries to act like an arbiter or define how democracy should work in each country."
Saying Mexico supported giving more authority to the OAS' Permanent Council, a wider decision-making body of members, rather then the secretary general, Derbez added that "It is not one person, one country or one agency, that should decide, but rather all the countries in the organization." |
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