MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Rice meets Latam ministers to address political diversity

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met on Saturday with Foreign Affairs ministers from several Latinamerican countries to address the political and economic relation between the US and the region.

"The significant advances in relations between United States and Latinamerica were considered based on the principle of respect for the existing political diversity in the region", according to a release from the meeting. Ms. Rice met her counterparts from Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Panama. "In the meeting we coincided that those advances in the relations are based on shared principles and the value of democracy, respect for human rights and social justice", said Panamanian minister Samuel Lewis Navarro who acted as a spokesperson for the meeting, possibly one of the last of Ms Rice since President George Bush hands over the White House next January 20th to whoever is the winner between Democrat Barak Obama and Republican John McCain on November 4. The release also refers to other mechanisms to strengthen democracy. The meeting was requested by Ms. Rice in the framework of the United Nations General Assembly which convened to New York high level delegations from 192 member countries. Mexico currently holds the pro tempore chair of the Rio Group, which had a crucial role last March defusing the Colombia-Venezuelan-Ecuador conflict. Peru is member of the Andean Community of Nations and Uruguay, founding member of Mercosur. Panama currently represents Latinamerica and the Caribbean in the UN Security Council as a non permanent member.