Dear Editor,

I refer to the interview which I granted to journalist Miranda La Rose on Friday May 15 and was published in the Stabroek News on Sunday, May 24.

In this regard, while acknowledging the attention given to the publication of the interview in a prominent place in your prestigious journal, I kindly ask that you publish the following clarifications:

1.  Mexico is not and has never been a member of the OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries), which, as you know, is an intergovernmental organization made up of 13 oil-producing nations.

What I mentioned in the intervention is that since 1993, Mexico is a member of the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) which is a forum for 21 Pacific Rim countries to cooperate on regional trade and investment liberalization and facilitation.

2.  I was not precise when I said that the Rio Group has 21 member states. Really, it has 23 member states, which belong to the different regions of Latin American and the Caribbean. The Rio Group comprises Mexico, all the countries in Central America, almost all the countries in South America (except Suriname), and several of the Caribbean states – Haiti, Dominican Republic, Cuba and Jamaica, which represent Caricom.

3.  I was Deputy Consul General of Mexico in San Francisco (2002-05), not Consul General.

4. When I referred to Mexico as part of the G-5, I wanted to say that Mexico belongs to the group of five emerging economic powers, together with Brazil, China, India and South Africa.

Yours faithfully,
Fernando Sandoval
Ambassador of Mexico