US Has New Permanent Rep. at OAS and Honduran FM Patricia Rodas is Surprise Speaker

Okay, I have to fess up.  I only watched about 10% of today’s OAS meeting , but I did go back to the video later this evening.  Today’s meeting focused solely on Honduras and there was no business to conduct per se, except to give most of the representatives one last opportunity to bitch about the golpistas and the duplicitous role played by the US.

At the beginning , the Colombia representative, Luis Alfonso Hoyos, serving as rotating president of the OAS Council, announced that a new US permanent representative had been appointed.  I guess the acting US representative, Lewis “I went to public schools, I shop at Walmart” Amselem’s last performance was too undiplomatic, even for the State Department.

 The new US representative, Carmen Lomellin, is an old hand at the OAS, worked in the Clinton administration and has a resume that looks good on paper.  The OAS press release about her and a pic are further down.

After all the countries that wanted to speak about Honduras had made their remarks, Venezuela’s ambassador, Roy Chaderton, asked to speak again and then asked if Patricia Rodas could speak during his time.  I encourage you to listen to it – its not long.  The final videos of OAS sessions that are  posted to its website are in the original language.  So if you speak Spanish, you should check out Rodas’ remarks.  Go to this URL and Rodas begins speaking around  minute 1:30.  Of course, the Colombian serving as rotating president tries to cut her off after five minutes and, with a look, Rodas let’s him know he should not get stupid again.

The OAS got sidelined on the Honduras issue by Hillary Clinton.  She understood that if the issue remained with the  OAS, the US would be the odd man out and Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Bolivia and others would be in the driver’s seat.  This is why Oscar Arias came into the picture.  His “negotiations” served two purposes:  it kept the issue under Clinton’s control and it ate up time.

PRESS RELEASE

OAS

NEW US PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE TO THE OAS PRESENTED CREDENTIALS
December 4, 2009

Ambassador Carmen Lomellin on Friday presented credentials to the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, to become the new Permanent Representative of the United States to the Organization.

At the event, which took place in the office of the Secretary General at OAS headquarters in Washington, D.C., the diplomat expressed hope that her knowledge of the Organization “will help to strengthen our shared commitment to work multilaterally to ensure that the OAS remains true to its core commitments to democracy, good governance and human rights — as set forth in the Inter-American Democratic Charter.”

Ambassador Lomellin also stressed that “multilateral solutions require respectful dialogue and steady engagement.”

“I want to assure you that every member of our delegation stands ready to work with you, our fellow delegates, and the Secretariat on the very important issues that have been entrusted to all of us by the Summit process and the General Assembly”, she said to the Secretary General.

Secretary General Insulza thanked “the government of the United States for its support for this organization”, and said to Ambassador Lomellin that the OAS was “eager to continue working with you on the problems of social development, security, governance, on the issues that really unite us.”

The ceremony was also attended by the OAS Assistant Secretary General, Albert R. Ramdin, the Chairman of the Permanent Council and Ambassador of Colombia, Luis Alfonso Hoyos, and the permanent representatives to the OAS of Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Guyana and Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Ambassador Carmen Lomellin most recently served as Director of Outreach within the OAS Secretariat of External Relations and previously was Executive Secretary of the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM). During the US Presidency of Bill Clinton she held the positions of White House Liaison for the US Office of Personnel Management and Director of that agency’s Office of International Affairs. She was an Advisor on Hispanic Affairs to the White House Office for Women’s Initiatives and Outreach.

The new Permanent Representative worked as Director of Leadership Development for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and has spent a major part of her professional career and personal life working on women’s issues, particularly those in the United States Hispanic community. Ambassador Lomellin holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management from St. Joseph’s Calumet College and a Masters in Business Administration in International Business from De Paul University, Chicago, Illinois. “