Roberto Garduno
Newspaper La Jornada
Monday, February 28, 2022, p. 4
The Mexican ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Juan Ramón de la Fuente, reiterated the historical position of national diplomacy against the exercise of veto by countries that have permanent representatives in the Security Council, which that prevented that body from adopting a resolution on Ukraine on Friday.
For his part, the Mexican ambassador to Romania, Guillermo Ordorica, announced that as of Sunday, 22 nationals had crossed the Siret border, which divides Ukraine from Romania, and they are expected to freely decide whether to board the plane from the Air Force.
Also, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard, reported – in a tweet – that the UN Security Council had called an extraordinary session of the General Assembly, scheduled for this Monday, on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, as well as another meeting about humanitarian aid in the area.
In his speech yesterday at the Security Council, De la Fuente stated –in the minute and a half he was given– that Last Friday, February 25, as a result of the veto exercise, the Security Council was unable to fulfill its primary responsibility to maintain international peace and security, as it was unable to adopt a draft resolution in relation to the situation in Ukraine, despite having 11 affirmative votes
.
Russia used that power to stop a resolution. China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstained.
Given the paralysis of the Security Council, today we invoke resolution 377 Union for Peace to urgently convene a special session of the General Assembly. Since 1945, Mexico has maintained an unwavering stance against the exercise of the veto by the permanent members of the Security Council. As we have repeatedly maintained, today we endorse: this power should not be a privilege, in any case it constitutes an enormous and very delicate responsibility
De la Fuente added.
The representation of Mexico unequivocally supports the convening of the 11th emergency session of the General Assembly and, as the permanent representative of France has mentioned, we convene a session to analyze the humanitarian situation that prevails on the ground, and to ensure that aid arrives soon to those who need it most
.
Very close to the conflict zone, Ordorica assured that in the diplomatic representation that he heads “we have information on each of the people in transit, their location in real time, the means of transport in which they are traveling, and a follow-up so that they do not feel alone and reaffirm the certainty that we are waiting for them.
“We have, here in Romania, 22 compatriots who are safe, all of them waiting to benefit from the Mexican Air Force flight that has been sent to Romania, so that they can – if they so wish – return to Mexico voluntarily.
The queues to cross are very long. There are people waiting more than 72 hours and when they arrive at the port of entry, the procedures are very slow. We will remain attentive to your needs.