MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

OAS calls on country members to “cool”

The Organization of American States, OAS, Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza called Monday on country members to “abstain from acts that can further increase the atmosphere of tension” existent among some of them.

In a brief release Mr. Insulza said that "restoring peace and democracy required an enormous effort on the part of our countries in decades past, and therefore we should do everything necessary to preserve peace and democracy, and avoid situations that could undermine them."

Although the release makes no specific reference, OAS has recently been aware of the growing conflict between Argentina and Uruguay over the construction of pulp mills in Uruguay which Buenos Aires objects for "environmental" reasons and considers a bilateral issue.

OAS Secretary General made an urgent call for "the parties to abstain from actions that could increase the atmosphere of tension, and in that regard, I am at the disposal of the parties to cooperate, in the manner they would consider most appropriate, to reopen the channels of dialogue among the states in question".

Another issue which has long haunted OAS is demand from landlocked Bolivia for an outlet to the Pacific, which so far Chile has refused. Chile also considers the matter "bilateral" although there has been an easing of tension with the coming into office of two newly elected governments, both of which won with ample majorities.