“I will not take a seat”: scandalous performance of the Mexican ambassador to the OAS Luz Elena Baños starred in a shameful episode when she opposed the increase in the institution’s budget.
In the early hours of Thursday, Mexico suffered a severe diplomatic setback during a debate at the Organization of American States (OAS), in which the Mexican ambassador to that organization, Luz Elena Baños, starred in a scandalous episode by opposing the increase in the budget of the hemispheric institution.
The events in the body’s plenary hall in Washington resulted in the fracture of a left-leaning regional bloc made up of Mexico, Bolivia and Argentina, who were besieged externally by Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, countries that are not part of the OAS. This left the Mexican delegation mired in what diplomatic sources describe as an embarrassing situation.
“Mexico experienced one of the most shameful moments in the history of its diplomacy. It was the lowest point in the history of the OAS starring an ambassador.”
“It was regrettable: Mexico was inelegant in its eagerness on the part of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to dismantle the OAS and attack its secretary general, Luis Almagro. However, this resulted in a boomerang that directly hit the Mexican diplomatic representation,” he added.
Angered by the majority tendency to approve the increase in the budget ceiling from 82,800,000 dollars to 92,100,000 dollars, Baños harshly attacked her colleagues, accusing that an “illegality” was being committed and denouncing that they were acting against “ethics and morals.”
Without the microphones in the room picking up his outrageous claims, Baños began to shout and got up from his seat. When Uruguay’s ambassador, Washington Abdala, who was presiding over the Permanent Council at the time, asked her to take a seat, she responded furiously: “I’m not going to sit down.”
Baños questioned the moral values of his colleagues, the ambassador of Barbados, Noel Anderson, reacted with deep anger and, before leaving the room, recalled that he had studied in Mexico and that, on some occasions, during his stay in the country, he had been insulted in the streets with racist epithets such as “monkey” and “gorilla”.
In the debate, Anderson argued, “I was hearing things that are disrespectful to us.” His position was supported by the rest of the delegates of the Caribbean Community (Caricom).
“The Caribbean as a group was upset with Mexico. In addition, Mexico lost in the vote, since the increase in the budget ceiling was approved with 25 votes in favor and 5 against. Given this numerical disadvantage, Ambassador Baños should have understood that her outbursts were meaningless,” another diplomatic source from Washington told this newspaper.
“This is not a debate between those who want to defend, strengthen and improve the OAS, and those who want to destroy it. No,” argued Argentina’s ambassador, Carlos Raimundi.