MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay endorses OAS statement against Russian invasion of Ukraine

Uruguay had planned to sign only a unanimous declaration but had a change of mind Sunday

Uruguay Sunday chose to join the list of Organization of American States (OAS) countries opposing Russia’s military actions in Ukraine after Friday’s initial decision not to sign the declaration in that regard.

According to Montevideo’s daily El País, President Luis Lacalle Pou instructed Ambassador Washington Abdala “to fully adhere to the OAS statement condemning Russia for its ‘unjustified’ invasion of Ukraine.

The OAS “strongly condemns the illegal, unjustified, and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation,” as per its declaration agreed upon last Friday by Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, United States, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela (represented by the Juan Guaidó administration).

According to reports, Uruguay’s Government had first planned to sign the document only if all the other member nations did, which was not likely since Brazil and Argentina had already voiced their discrepancies with it.

The OAS had stressed that “the military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine is contrary to the principles of respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the prohibition of the threat or use of force, and the peaceful resolution of disputes, which are enshrined in international law and in the Charter of the United Nations.”

But Lacalle had a change of mind Sunday: “I want to express in very clear terms that Uruguay reiterates the strongest condemnation of the illegal invasion of the territory of Ukraine by the Russian Federation and calls for the immediate cessation of the use of force and the restoration of the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” Uruguay’s Foreign Minister Francisco Bustillo Bonasso said in the formal note sent to the OAS.