PRESS RELEASE - 7 MAY 2016

Argentine Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra makes statement after participating in the special session of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS)

Argentine Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra spoke about her participation in the special session of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS), a meeting held in Washington to look into the situation in Venezuela: “It was important to have the Venezuelan government at the OAS to give its perspective in the official setting of the Council. It enabled all member states to listen and give their standpoint. What Argentina did, alongside other states, was to propose to sit down and talk with the Venezuelan government to see if we might be able to find a structure which would enable us to work through the OAS, UNASUR, CELAC, or any other organisation, to help address what Venezuela’s own Foreign Minister described as a complicated situation”.

“We have no interventionist intentions; rather we intend to help broaden the space for dialogue. One cannot replace the Venezuelans’ will to find solutions for themselves. We expect to be able to contribute with the lessons learnt from our own experience in 2001 – events that are very recent and have remained ingrained in the national psyche”, Minister Malcorra stated in an interview on Radio Continental.

Quizzed on the situation of the pulp mills in Uruguay, Malcorra said: “the President met in January with Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez and they agreed on an action plan proposing to set up a joint commission for the sanitation of the entire Uruguay River. Although tension arose around the pulp mills issue, in truth we have mistreated the Uruguay River more than through the pulp mills alone. There is a laboratory that we will use to carry out these studies, and that we will also allow the Mercosur to use”.

Regarding the annual Gualeguaychú carnival set to take place tomorrow, she said: "there are certain dates on which tensions may rise and this is the case with tomorrow’s parades on the bridge. Both the Uruguayan government and our own are working to manage the issue and keep to our pledges. The pulp mill is a warning call to all Argentines, everyone in the province of Entre Ríos and Uruguayans that we have to be much more responsible in the way we use our rivers”.

In response to recent remarks made by Donald Trump regarding Argentina, Malcorra stated: “the election process in the United States has its intrinsic complexities and I would say that it is giving even the Americans themselves quite a shock. I would say that Mr Trump’s comments aren’t particularly helpful; he has also made many comments about Mexico along exactly the same lines. Let’s hope the American people will make the right choice”.