Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero affirmed that “distributing sanctions or blockades is not productive for peace, dialogue and diplomatic negotiation to be imposed,” and He advocated that, ahead of the IX Summit of the Americas to be held in Los Angeles next June, the United States -as the host country- has “a leading role in a positive agenda” for the region.
In an exclusive dialogue with Télam in the Italian capital, where on Friday he held meetings with authorities from the United Nations offices and businessmen, as well as with his counterpart Luigi Di Maio, and as part of the tour he made this week in Venice and Rome and will continue next week in India, the head of the Palacio San Martín reviewed the priorities of Argentine foreign policy.
A) Yes, analyzed the position of the country against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the next Summit of the Americas, the situation in Latin America and also the ballot that will take place tomorrow in France between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen.
During the dialogue with this agency, the chancellor referred to the position of Argentina before the application of sanctions at the international level, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine that began in February, many Western countries have resorted to that tool against Moscow, and in response to this issue, he stated that Argentina is proposing “a return to dialogue.”
This week, Argentina -just like Brazil and Mexico- abstained from voting in the Organization of American States (OEA) a resolution that suspended Russia as a permanent observer of the hemispheric body, a measure with immediate effect until the Russian Federation “cease its hostilities” and withdraw troops from Ukraine.
“Argentina does not have a regulatory framework today to generate unilateral sanctions. In fact, there is a law that prevents it,” Cafiero explained.
“On the other hand, what Argentina seeks and proposes a return to dialogue, pacify the situation, and we honestly do not believe that distributing sanctions or blockades will be productive for peace, dialogue and diplomatic negotiation to be imposed. That is the challenge we have today, with the call for peace,” the foreign minister said.
Summit of the Americas Agenda
Facing the next international summits, Cafiero also referred to the agenda that the country will take to the IX Summit of the Americas to be held in the city of Los Angeles, California, at the beginning of June.
“Argentina will always have proposals from Latin America and from those values. Today we are having difficulties that deserve to be addressed,” said the foreign minister, also referring to the pro-tempore presidency of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). , which the country exercises.
“Indeed, the war in Europe somehow takes all the attention of public opinion but it is no less true than what is happening in Haiti with the humanitarian crisis that exists and it does not dissolve because the media flashes are not thereCafiero observed.
For the head of national diplomacy, “there is a lot to work on”, particularly in topics such as “food safety”a demand that requires “ensuring access to food in the region, which is also essential to guarantee political stability in the region,” he remarked.
“There must also be a look from everyone to which the United States cannot be oblivious. Pointing out countries and distributing sanctions and blockades is not a function of Argentina, never has been, and it seems to us that What these types of actions in the region have generated is greater inequality and further setbacks from the social point of view,” Cafiero said.
“We need a positive agenda for the region. In this we need the United States to play a leading role. We also have to bear in mind what is happening in Peru for example, with a greater commitment on the part of all to defend democracy and stability,” he exemplified.
For the minister, facing the meeting of heads of state and government of the countries of the Americas, the next Summit of the Americas “has to be a space to discuss the agenda of Latin America and the Caribbean, of the Americas as a whole, and not continue discussing only issues outside the zone”.
And along the same lines, he warned: “Not discussing our daily issues does not resolve them, it only makes them invisible.”
France and the ballot
Finally, Cafiero spoke of the crucial ballot that France faces this Sunday between the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and the current president Emmanuel Macron.
In that sense, the chancellor pointed out that for Argentina “it is not the same” whoever wins in the ballot that will define tomorrow the president of France until 2027.
“It’s not the same at all. We have a vision much closer to the vision that President Macron has, as President Alberto Fernández has stated,” stressed.
“For Argentina, a vision regarding the search for greater equity, greater equality, is not the same. We have a much closer agenda with Macron,” the Foreign Minister deepened.
For the chancellor, in the link with Macron, “of course there are differences, but in central points about the search for a more equitable world, with a more social outlook, we have a more shared agenda”.
