The Foreign Minister strongly condemned Iran’s attack on Israel and pointed out the possible impacts that the escalation of the conflict may have for the country.
The chancellor Omar Paganini referred to the conflict in Middle East between Iran and Israeland reaffirmed the country’s position in the face of geopolitical tension: “The position of Uruguay It is a very firm condemnation of what was Iran’s aggression against Israel, an unprecedented aggression,” he said, and highlighted that in the country there is concern that the conflict will escalate to the regional level.
The owner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRREE) He also mentioned the impact that a possible war could have for Uruguay, mainly at a logistical level in the transportation of the commodities, key for the country’s foreign trade. “They already exist because we already saw that there are shipping routes that passed through the Suez Canal who are preferring other, much more expensive paths,” he considered, and also pointed out the effects on the oil prices and, consequently, in those of commodities. Furthermore, Paganini emphasized other effects of the risk of international conflict on Middle East: “We have the diplomatic corps, there are Uruguayan passing forces on Israel’s border with the Lebanon, But in addition to everything there is an important community of Uruguayans who live in Israel and Iran, and the Foreign Ministry is monitoring the situation through the respective consulates in Palestine, in Israel, in Lebanon.”
“To the extent that the situation normalizes, we remain calm, otherwise there are always possibilities of seeking solutions to protect our fellow citizens,” Paganini said at a press conference.
The country had already positioned itself against the military escalation between Iran and Israel on Saturday night, when the former’s attack was confirmed in an action that they still point out as an exercise of the right of self-defense, after the government of Benjamin Netanyahu attack with drones the diplomatic facilities of the Islamic Republic from Iran in Damascus, the capital of Syria. Then, the Foreign Ministry condemned “the use of force by Iran” and regretted “the worsening of the conflict, as well as the consequences that it could imply for the tragic humanitarian situation and civilian victims in the region.”
Criticisms of the management of Celac in the case of Ecuador
Minister Paganini also referred to the recent conflict in Ecuador, where the local police stormed the Mexico’s embassy in Quito to arrest the former vice president Jorge Glaswho was in political asylum at the diplomatic headquarters in question. “Uruguay condemns and was very concerned about the violation of the principle of diplomatic immunity by Ecuadorian security forces. This is a principle that is sacred to us, it has also allowed in the history of Latin America protect many citizens who were persecuted for political reasons at many times in our history, and therefore, this institute seems very important to us and what happened in Ecuador seems reprehensible,” he insisted, in line with the official communication from the MRREE .
However, the leader rejected the “untimely and without consensus” call by the pro tempore president of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), Xiomara Castroto a meeting of presidents of the bloc, after there had already been a meeting of foreign ministers – for Uruguay the undersecretary attended Nicolás Albertoni—, with a motion of condemnation in this regard. “We must separate the problems: one is the problem of Ecuador’s violation of the Mexican Embassy, which seems very serious and condemnable to us and we voted for it last week in the OAS and we are willing to vote for it in Celac; But what we are not willing to do and has nothing to do with is that Celac changes the rule of the game and stops working based on consensus because Celac is a concertation initiative for the countries of Latin America and the Caribbeanworks based on consensus.”
Source: Ambito
