(Trinidad Guardian) David Abdulah, Leader of the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ), is blaming the People Partnership Government’s “inexperience” in international affairs for a vote at the Organisation of the American States (OAS) on Friday where T&T distanced itself from Caricom and the rest of Latin America. “We have an inexperienced consul in Washington DC. This is another example where you must put an experienced career diplomat,” Abdulah told the T&T Guardian yesterday. Up to press time, calls and messages to the phone of Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran’s went unanswered.
The OAS on Friday called a meeting of Foreign Affairs Ministers for August 24 to discuss the standoff sparked when Ecuador gave asylum to WikiLeaks founder and journalist, Julian Assange.
Twenty-three countries in Latin America and the Caribbean voted for the resolution proposed by Ecuador to convene the meeting at its Washington headquarters to discuss Ecuador’s standoff with Britain over Assange.
The only country in Caricom and Latin America to vote against the resolution was T&T.
The United States, Canada and T&T voted no, five countries abstained and three were absent. The vote was taken at emergency talks to discuss the case of Assange, a 41-year-old Australian national, who took refuge at Ecuador’s embassy in London on June 19 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over alleged sexual misconduct. The US envoy to the OAS, Carmen Lomellin, said a meeting of OAS Foreign Ministers “would be unhelpful and harmful to the OAS’ reputation as an institution.”
Ecuador wants the body to discuss what it says was a threat by Britain to storm its embassy by force to take Assange into custody.
Assange on Thursday, triggered a diplomatic row between Ecuador and London, when Britain angrily insisted it would move to extradite him.
