Organization of American States

Statement by Jose Miguel Insulza, Secretary General

Public Briefing

April 10, 2008

Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of the Foreign Affairs Committee

US House of Representatives

Public Briefing

Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of the Foreign Affairs Committee

US House of Representatives

Statement by Jose Miguel Insulza, Secretary General

Organization of American States

April 10, 2008

            Thank you very much for this opportunity to participate in this public briefing.  I would particularly like to express my own appreciation for the commitment to our inter-American issues demonstrated by the Chairman Eliot Engel and Ranking Member Dan Burton. 

            I have submitted for the record my written statement as well as key official OAS and related documents on the recent events in the Andes.  I will briefly summarize this statement and look forward to our dialogue on these crucial matters.

            As you know, on the morning of Saturday, March 1, 2008, military forces and police personnel of Colombia entered the territory of Ecuador without the express consent of the government of Ecuador to carry out an operation against members of an irregular group of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, who were clandestinely encamped on the Ecuadorian side of the border. 

            How did the OAS become involved in this situation?  Very quickly as on March 2, the Ecuadorian government requested a special meeting of the OAS Permanent Council, which consists of the ambassadors to the OAS from the 34 democratically-elected governments in the Americas. On March 4 and 5, at our headquarters here in Washington, DC, the government of Ecuador stated its strong objection to the Colombian action and the Colombian government stated its reasons for such action.  The issue was discussed amongst the countries and three steps were taken.  First, to reaffirm the principle of territorial integrity enshrined in Article 21 of the OAS Charter; second, to establish a commission to travel to the region and prepare a report on the situation, and third, to convene a Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs at the OAS to receive the findings of the commission and make recommendations for subsequent action. 

            By happenstance, a Summit meeting of the Rio Group was scheduled for March 7 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.  The members of the Rio Group are Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.  The meeting focused diplomatic attention at the highest level on the tensions between Colombia and Ecuador and, with the able leadership of President Leonel Fernandez, these tensions were diffused.  A Declaration was approved which denounced the violation of the territorial integrity of Ecuador, noted the apology of Colombian President Uribe for the violation of territory, supported the principles of the OAS Charter, reiterated a commitment to peaceful coexistence in the region and to counter threats from irregular groups or criminal organizations, and supported the March 5 resolution of the Permanent Council of the OAS and as well as my work as Secretary General in carrying out its recommendations.

            From March 9 to 12, the OAS commission called for by the Permanent Council, consisting of ambassadors to the OAS from Argentina, Brazil, Panama, Peru and the Bahamas, as well as myself, traveled to Ecuador and Colombia.  In Ecuador, we met with President Correa who raised specific concerns about the incident and expressed his desire to reactivate the Bi-national Border Commission between Ecuador and Colombia to address border security matters.  The commission members arrived at the FARC camp on March 10.  The camp is about 1,800 meters from the Colombian border.  We went through the camp to see the impact of the bombs dropped by Colombian aircraft, the trees with bullet marks, the locations of the Direct TV antennas, the living areas used by the FARC members and the location where the bodies and injured victims were found.  The camp is located in a remote forest zone, with very tall trees, dense vegetation, and no inhabited areas in the vicinity. 

            Traveling to Colombia, we met with President Uribe who expressed the need to move beyond political agreements that are necessary to ease tension between the two countries, by identifying concrete mechanisms that ensure compliance with existing bilateral and cooperation agreements.  Following this meeting with President Uribe, we met with the members of INTERPOL who, on request from the Colombian government, are going to conduct an expert examination of three computers, three USBs (portable memory) and three hard disks, which, according to Colombian officials, had been found in the FARC camp.  The INTERPOL delegates said that the results of their investigation would be ready in late April. 

            After these and additional extensive discussion, the OAS commission made the following recommendations:

1.         The restoration of diplomatic relations between Colombia and Ecuador and the reactivation of existing political consultation mechanisms.

2.         The formulation of an OAS mission for follow-up on and verification of commitments assumed and agreements reached by the two countries for           cooperation on border issues and other matters of common interest.

3.         The strengthening of border mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation, and study of a possible bilateral early-warning system.

4.         The development, with the support of international organizations and entities like the Inter-American Development Bank, the Andean Development Corporation, and the United Nations Development Program, among others, of border area cooperation and integration programs, including environmental projects.

5.         The provision of incentives to dialogue among civil society organizations in the two countries.

6.         The strengthening of relations among business organizations of the two countries, to identify ways to increase bilateral trade, including border-area trade.

            As called for by the OAS Permanent Council on March 5, a Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs was convened on March 17.  The results of this meeting, which went well into the night, was a resolution -- reiterating much of the Declaration of the Rio Group; instructing me to use my good offices of the OAS General Secretariat to implement a mechanism for restoring an atmosphere of trust between the two parties; taking note of the report of the OAS Commission to Colombia and Ecuador; and stating that the Ministerial-level consultation will continue at our annual General Assembly to be held June 1-3 in Medellin, Colombia.

            In the meantime, we have an OAS team, headed by Victor Rico, the Director of our Department of Sustainable Democracy and Special Mission, traveling to Ecuador on April 6-8 and Colombia April 9-10 to help restore diplomatic communications and an environment of cooperation between the two governments.  We will report to the General Assembly on the status of these efforts.

            As is clear from the evolution of events, this is an on-going exercise of maintaining peace, uncovering facts and implementing solid diplomatic mechanisms to address problems of irregular groups and criminal activity across borders in a cooperative manner among the governments of our region.  As the region’s premier political forum, the OAS created a diplomatic space to discuss these difficult issues, quickly launched a mission to collect information on the incident, proposed mechanisms for long-term conflict resolution and continues to support projects to bring peace and the rule of law to the Andean region.

            Thank you for your attention and I look forward to your questions.