Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean must choose "which side they are going to be on" in the conflict with Iran, a US State Department official said Monday.
Speaking on the eve of an Organisation of American States (OAS) General Assembly, the spokesperson for the US State Department underlined the importance of voicing support for the Israeli and US offensive against Iran and the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme.
Antigua and Barbuda is hosting the 55th OAS General Assembly on Wednesday, days after the United States bombed several Iranian nuclear plants.
Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua – which US Secretary of State Marco Rubio describes as "enemies of humanity" – have expressed solidarity with Iran, but other countries have also condemned the attacks, including Brazil and Bolivia.
Uruguay has also expressed its concern about the offensive and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum quoted the late Pope Francis to say that "war is the greatest failure of humanity."
Argentina, meanwhile, has strongly backed Washington.
It is "a great opportunity for countries in the region to figure out whose side they are going to be on, whether they are going to support a regime that is a state sponsor of terrorism or what position they are going to take," a US State Department official told a press briefing Monday.
"Each country has to make a decision," the official stressed regarding the military offensive by Israel against the Islamic Republic.
Wednesday’s sessions of the General Assembly, the top OAS body, will begin with Haiti as the lead topic.
"It is a human tragedy ... the OAS has an important role to play," said the US official, speaking two months after Rubio called on the forum to "step forward" and lead an international mission in Haiti.
"The United States is willing to play a leadership role" and to collaborate with the OAS in "eradicating gang violence, increasing police presence, blocking the flow of weapons, and rebuilding the security infrastructure" in Haiti, but "we need concrete commitments," said the spokesperson.
In addition to a draft resolution on Haiti, the OAS will also address issues such as budget financing, the mental health crisis in the Americas and the sovereignty dispute over the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands.
There will be no joint communiqués on the situation in Venezuela or Nicaragua, two countries that have left the organization, at this general assembly, the first to be chaired by Suriname's Albert Ramdin as the head of the OAS.
Deputy US Secretary of State Christopher Landau, leading Washington’s delegation, will arrive with other priorities, such as supporting the candidacy of Cuban dissident Rosa María Payá to be a member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
OAS member countries will elect on Friday three members of the IACHR, three members of the Inter-American Juridical Committee, one member of the Administrative Tribunal, one member of the Audit Committee and two members of the Justice Studies Center of the Americas.
The United States also wants to counter the regional influence of its strategic rival, China, an indispensable trading partner for many Latin American countries.
"The OAS remains one of the few multilateral venues in which the Chinese Communist Party lacks significant voting or financial influence," said the US official, who has requested anonymity to speak.
"We are steadfast in preventing China from abusing its permanent observer status to try to undermine our goal of democracy and economic progress" in the region, they insisted.
– TIMES/AFP
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