MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Strong OAS commitment to combat corruption.

The Organization of American States ended its 34th General Assembly held in Quito, Ecuador, with the approval of a strong declaration condemning corruption and designed to make the hemisphere hostile territory for leaders and government officials who after engaging in corrupt acts try to flee their countries.

"In this Assembly, the basis has been laid for moving from the concept of action against corruption to practical measures to fight it, because the mechanisms are going to be established" to work against it, said Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Patricio Zuquilanda at the Assembly's final press conference.

The "Quito Declaration" approved by the hemisphere's foreign ministers says that "the worldwide phenomenon of corruption is a serious obstacle that is critical for social development" and therefore the countries of the hemisphere will "deny admittance to corrupt officials in the public and private sectors, to those who corrupt them and to the assets (acquired) from corruption"

The foreign ministers also committed themselves "to cooperate to extradite (corrupt officials) and to recover and restore the assets stemming from corruption to their legal owners" insisting that "we must perfect the regional mechanisms of mutual judicial assistance in penal matters".

The anti-corruption agreement was considered a success for United States diplomacy, represented by Secretary of State Colin Powel and who announced that the next OAS summit will be held a year from now in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

The 34th general assembly unanimously elected as Secretary General former Costa rica president Miguel Angel Rodríguez who takes over from Cesar Gaviria next September 15 after having completed two consecutive mandates.

The Quito assembly approved more than 70 resolutions and declarations, but there were no great surprises since controversial political issues such as situations in Venezuela and Haiti were discussed in private sessions.

Also, the anticipated demonstrations by Ecuadorian indigenous people protesting some of the policies of the Lucio Gutierrez administration failed to gain the momentum their organizers had hoped for.

At the end of the OAS sessions, the Assembly approved a resolution committing members to aid Haiti in holding free elections as quickly as possible. The resolution was the subject of intense negotiations between some of the 14 members of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) who took some time to reach a consensus.

The Assembly as usual supported Argentina's sovereignty claim over the Falklands and attempted to address the controversial issue of Bolivia's demand for an access to the Pacific Ocean, which Chile insists is a bilateral issue

Finally the Inter-American Human Rights Commission denounced the human rights situation in Cuba, Venezuela, Guatemala, Haiti and Colombia.