In preparation for the XXXI General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) in San José, which opens Sunday and will bring together some 1000 chancellors, ministers and representatives from 34 member states, the Ministry of Public Security Wednesday announced it will deploy 1,500 police officers to insure tight security measures.
Although protests here are not expected to pose a serious security threat or escalate to the point of violence — as was the case during last April’s third Summit of the Americas in Quebec, Canada — demonstrators are expected to protest the presence of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Israeli Foreign Minister Simon Peres.
"While the summit in Canada sparked anti-globalization protests, the OAS agenda is to strengthen human rights in the Americas," Rogelio Ramos, Minister of Public Security, said during a press conference Wednesday. "It is kind of hard to protest human rights."
The three-day long Assembly, which will be presided over by César Gaviria, the Colombian-born Secretary General of the OAS, will take place in the Hotel Herradura, 15 minutes west of San José. The focus of the meeting will be to fortify the inter-American human rights system, in part, by strengthen the San José-bused Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which was established in 1978 under the auspices of the OAS. To strengthen the Court, the Costa Rican government is calling on all member states to recognize its jurisdiction and commit more finances to expand its capacity to resolve human-rights cases.
In addition to human rights and the FTAA Democratic Charter, other agenda items to be discussed before Tuesday’s closing ceremony include "the question of the Malvinas Islands," "Bolivia’s maritime problem" and "the socio-economic and environmental impact of climate change in the hemisphere."
Hosted annually by one of the 34 member countries, the General Assembly is the most important decision-making body of the OAS. Last year’s General Assembly was held in Windsor, Canada, and focused on the creation of a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), which is currently slated to enter into force in 2005.
The General Assembly’s proposed adoption of the "Inter-American Democratic Charter" as part of the FTAA initiative is expected to be one of the more controversial agenda items at this meeting.
While still in the draft stage, the purpose of the Democratic Charter is, according to Manuel Rodríguez, Peru’s Ambassador to the OAS, "to actively shore up mechanisms to defend and preserve democracy in our region." If adopted during next week’s General Assembly, the Democratic Charter would insure that economic integration is extended only to hemisphere nations deemed "democratic".
Although Peru last month submitted a Democratic Charter proposal to be discussed at the General Assembly, at this point, very few details about the charter have been made public, fueling protesters’ arguments that the globalization process is neither transparent nor democratic.
"The OAS does not promote true democracy, and tramples on the sovereignty of member countries," reads a press release issued this week by the Civil Committee in Protest of the OAS, a national coalition of students and nongovernmental groups. "It is imposing a model of development that goes against the economic, social and cultural rights of people."
In addition to protesting a globalization process that has resulted in a "great social, economic and environmental crises," the Civil Committee will focus its protests against the presence of Powell — whom they call a "military neo-fascist" — and Peres, who "represents a nation that promotes a system of ethnicide and genocide."
According to the group’s statement, Powell’s appointment as Secretary of State implies a re-militarization of U.S. foreign relations in the Americas and a new era of Latin American intervention. Peres’ attendance as an international observer, protesters claim, is incompatible with the General Assembly’s agenda of strengthening the inter-American system of human rights.
"The OAS is promoting double morals," the statement reads. "While on one hand, it promotes sustainable human development, it simultaneously tolerates flagrant violations of fundamental rights."
The Civil Committee claims it represents the [Simón] Bolivarian ideal of a united America, as opposed to the OAS vision of a united America, which brings together government leaders but turns a deaf ear to the 800 million people who live the hemisphere.
The group is planning a protest march on the capital Sunday afternoon to coincide with the OAS’s opening ceremonies at the National Theater.
Powell and Peres will arrive here Sunday, accompanied by their own security entourage, according to Ramos, who added that local security forces will focus on three major areas: transportation routes, securing the parameter of all meeting and sleeping areas, and deploying plainclothes officers to police the inside of the convention center at the Hotel Herradura.
Ramos this week stressed that all areas have been carefully mapped out and that security measures have been properly planned to insure that everything runs smoothly during the three-day assembly.
While security measures are not expected to dramatically disrupt intercity transit, public buses passing in front of the National Theater will be temporarily re-routed several blocks south during the Assembly’s opening ceremony.
