Geen
Oorlog - No a la Guerra
Rallying around the US flag
RALLYING AROUND THE US
FLAG
At a meeting at the Organization
of American States headquarters in Washington, DC, on Sept. 21, foreign
ministers from most countries in the hemisphere condemned the Sept. 11
attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon near
Washington and backed US plans for an "international war on
terrorism." The 23 OAS countries that are signatories to the
Inter-American Reciprocal Assistance Treaty of 1947 agreed to activate the
mutual defense accord and promised to do everything possible to pursue,
extradite and punish the perpetrators.
Ironically, the decision came
just two weeks after Mexican president Vicente Fox Quesada announced that
the treaty was obsolete and Mexico might withdraw from it [see Update #606].
Mexican foreign affairs secretary Jorge G. Castaneda said on Sept. 21 that
there was no contradiction in Mexico's position; the new situation
"corroborates" Mexico's interest in reviewing and updating the
hemisphere's approach to security, especially in relation to terrorism, he
said. [CNN en Espanol 9/21/01 from Reuters; El Nuevo Herald (Miami) 9/22/01
from Reuters]
Before the OAS meeting, the
Conference of Central American Armed Forces (CEFAC) met in Tegucigalpa on
Sept. 19 and issued a declaration that they would "put at the disposal
of the US the utilization of their humanitarian rescue unit." It was
not clear what unit the declaration referred to. CEFAC is a body formed by
El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua in November 1997. The
declaration was signed by the presidents of the CEFAC countries and a
representative of Belize. Costa Rican president Miguel Angel Rodriguez also
signed the declaration, even though Costa Rica abolished its military in
1949. Panama did not send a representative. [ENH 9/20/01 from AFP]
The various OAS states have
different interpretations of what they mean by cooperation with the US
"war against terrorism." The government of Ricardo Lagos, Chile's
first Socialist president since the 1973 overthrow of Salvador Allende
Gossens by a US-backed military coup, says it will not rule out sending
troops to join the US military effort. "Everything can be
evaluated," Defense Minister Mario Fernandez told reporters after a
Sept. 22 meeting between Lagos and the heads of the military. [La Republica
(Peru) 9/23/01 from EFE]
Argentina and Paraguay have also
indicated that they might be willing to send troops, but the region's two
largest countries, Brazil and Mexico, have ruled the option out. Venezuela
had made no statement on the subject as of Sept. 16, while Uruguayan
president Jorge Batlle has said that US actions against terrorism
"might make more progress by the path of reason than by the path of
emotion." A poll by the Centro de Estudios de Opinion Publica (CEOP)
published in the Argentine daily Clarin showed 60.2% of people in the Buenos
Aires metropolitan area opposed to having Argentina form part of the
international military alliance against terrorism, with 31.6% in favor. A
poll by the Ibope company released on Sept. 15 showed 74.6% opposing
Argentine military participation. [ENH 9/17/01 from AFP] The Gallup
organization released a poll of 29 countries worldwide, including four from
Latin America, on Sept. 19. According to Gallup, 46% of Peruvians, 35% of
Ecuadorans, 21% of Mexicans and 20% of Argentines support having their
countries "accompany" US military actions. [Hoy (NY) 9/20/01 from
wire services] (Weekly News Update on the Americas # 608, 23/09/01)
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