Press Releases 2010

Secretary Clinton Travels to Latin America

By Merle David Kellerhals Jr. Staff Writer

Secretary Clinton Travels to South America, Caribbean

Washington — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will hold talks with regional partners from across South America, Central America and the Caribbean during the annual meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) being held in Peru.

Emphasis at the 40th OAS General Assembly meeting in Lima is on enhanced regional security and cooperation, says Ambassador Carmen Lomellin, the U.S. permanent representative to the OAS. The General Assembly meets June 6–8.

“It’s creating an environment in all of our member states where all of our citizens can live lives free of violence,” Lomellin said. “Within that chapeau you have the drug trafficking, the trafficking in persons, you have all these issues that affect people’s daily lives.”

At a briefing June 4, Assistant Secretary of State Arturo Valenzuela said that the conference declaration will address questions of security across the Americas in a broad sense. Some of the elements will include confidence-building measures between countries, ensuring peaceful relations among members, calls for greater investment in programs aimed at economic development, social reforms, and less funding for military spending programs, said Valenzuela, who is the assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs.

Another issue of importance this year will be the growth of regional democracy. Nine years ago in Lima, the OAS approved the Inter-American Democratic Charter, which has become a guiding light for the OAS, Lomellin said. “So democracy is, will continue to be, and should be a priority for this organization,” she added.

The OAS ministers will also be conducting an exhaustive review of the mandates that it has received, Lomellin said. “Monies and contributions are really being diminished. So we have to figure out — we as member states have to figure out — what are the priorities, what is the value added for whatever it is that the OAS is going to do with it, [and] go in the direction,” she added.

After the OAS meeting of hemispheric government ministers, Clinton travels to Ecuador, where she is expected to deliver a major foreign policy speech at the Centro Cultural Metropolitano in Quito June 8, Valenzuela said. The Metropolitano, which is owned by the city, is next door to the presidential palace in the historic center of Quito, and it houses a library, a number of exhibition areas and museums.

Clinton travels to Colombia for meetings with government leaders and with the two presidential candidates, Antanas Mockus and Juan Manuel Santos, Valenzuela said. “In Bogota, of course, she will be discussing elements of the bilateral relationship with Colombia, as well as with the two candidates,” he said. Colombia is going through an electoral process; the first round was held May 30 and the next round is June 20.

On June 9, Clinton will hold meetings with leaders of the Caribbean nations in Barbados, which follows up on a recent meeting in Washington on the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative, he added. The CBSI is the Obama administration’s effort to work with countries of the Caribbean to address the problems of crime, violence and narco-trafficking they face, Valenzuela said.

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