Credit: Gary Raynaldo / Ambassador Gustavo Meza-Cuadra, (Center) Permanent Representative of Peru to the United Nations and President of the Security Council for the month of July 2019 speaks at press conference at UN headquarters July 1, 2019 with staff members. 

By Gary Raynaldo  – DIPLOMATIC TIMES

UNITED NATIONS  –   PERU  officially took over the Presidency of the UN Security Council Monday for the month of July. Ambassador Gustavo Meza-Cuadra, Permanent Representative of Peru to the United Nations, will serve as President of the Security Council during  July. Ambassador Meza-Cuadra told reporters at press conference Monday that Peru’s priority will be “peacebuilding and sustaining peace” focusing on strengthening partnerships for nationally owned transitions. In addition, Peru plans to hold an open debate on the link between terrorism and organised crime, and a debate on strengthening cooperation between the Council, the Secretariat and the troop-and police-contributing countries in peacekeeping operations. 

“As you know, in the past Peru has experienced and suffered terrorism and now at the Council, we are chairing the counter-terrorism committee and the nexus between terrorism and organized crime is a known problem. It appears in different forms in different regions. In Latin America it is mostly related to drugs issues. In our region, it is more with human trafficking, arms trafficking. We are working also on a Resolution highlighting this problem and how we should address it.”

–Ambassador Gustavo Meza-Cuadra, Permanent Representative of Peru to the United Nations.

Credit: By Gary Raynaldo /  Ambassador Gustavo Meza-Cuadra, Permanent Representative of Peru to the United Nations, will serve as President of the Security Council during  July.

-PERU To Prioritize Colombia and Peace Pact in July Security Council

The Peru Ambassador also said the Security Council will also hold briefings on Mali, Syria, and the Palestinian Issue.  In addition, the Security Council will travel to Colombia 11-14 July, he said. The Council will be meeting in the capital city Bogotá  meeting with  government officials and authorities and also with representatives of  FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia). The Colombian Peace Pact between the Colombian government of President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC–EP to bring an end to the Colombian conflict will be a major focus of Peru during July. 

“This is a very important visit,  only the second time the  Security Council is coming to Colombia, and we will stress our commitment to the  peace process,” Meza-Cuadra said. The Security Council is going to Colombia at the invitation of the  Latin American nation’s government. 

Credit: By Gary Raynaldo  /  Ambassador Gustavo Meza-Cuadra, Permanent Representative of Peru to the United Nations, makes informal comments at press conference outside UN security Council chambers June 26, 2019 on the Council’s July visit to Colombia. 

PERU Will Not Hold Any Formal Security Council Meetings on VENEZUELA 

Regarding the Venezuela situation:   “We have not scheduled any specific meetings on Venezuela. We had some meetings at the Council a few months ago (regarding Venezuela) There has been some discussions at the OAS (Members of the Organization of American States) meeting. We mostly favor that  this issue be addressed at the regional level,” the Peru Ambassador stated.

The fact that Peru, a major Latin American nation, that has taken in nearly 1,000,000 Venezuelans fleeing their country’s political/economic crisis, will not be holding meetings in the Security Council this month on the Bolivarian Republic is incredulous.