By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS, September 23 -- Two days after the UN saw the disputed presidency of Paraguay lead to the suspension of a meeting of the Caribbean and Latin American group CELAC, as exclusively reported by Inner City Press, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met as if nothing had happened with replacement president Luis Federico Franco Gomez.
According to the UN's September 23 read-out, Ban "expressed the hope that the months leading to the 2013 elections could be used for dialogue among all political actors to address the country's challenges."
Back on September 21, the CELAC meeting had been scheduled from 10-1 and 3-6 in Conference Room 5 of the UN's North Lawn building.
But an attendee ran out near 11 am and exclusively told Inner City Press that the meeting was "suspended" when a representative of "post-Lugo," some say "post-coup" Paraguay came in.
Paraguay has already been suspended from MERCOSUR, and now the fight has extended to the UN in New York. Inner City Press confirmed and tweeted it. A few hours later, the afternoon session of CELAC was listed as "Canceled."
Inner City Press approached the UN Permanent Representative of one of the CELAC members and asked about the meeting's suspension.
"There was no meeting," he said with a smile. He predicted, "Maybe he won't come in the future, he will be absent, so this does not happen again."
But two days later, Luis Federico Franco Gomez.met with Ban Ki-moon. The read-out also said Ban
"expressed appreciation for recent advances to protect and promote gender equality. The Secretary-General thanked for Paraguay’s commitment to peacekeeping operations and for its contribution to Haiti."
Yeah, that peacekeeping mission is going great. Watch this site.
