“In Venezuela, the objective of politics has been lost”, Almagro said in a hard-hitting letter published on Tuesday requesting a permanent council meeting in mid-June to judge Venezuela’s performance vis-a-vis the body’s Inter-American Democratic Charter.
Advertisement
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Tuesday that Organization of American States chief Luis Almagro had called for foreign “intervention” in his country by invoking the body’s Democratic Charter in response to the political crisis in Venezuela.
The OAS head justified his actions citing Article 20 of the organization’s charter, which authorizes any member state or the Secretary General to request an immediate meeting of the Permanent Council “in the event of an unconstitutional adjustment of the constitutional regime that seriously impairs the democratic order in a member state”.
Under the OAS Charter the Permanent Council may vote to suspend Venezuela’s membership with a two-thirds vote, on the grounds of preserving democracy.
Venezuela’s opposition-controlled congress recently asked Almagro to exercise his right to call for a vote on whether the country had violated democratic principles. The last time that occurred was in 2009, when Honduras was suspended following the military’s removal of President Manuel Zelaya.
Maduro is also under pressure from Venezuela’s opposition, which is pushing for a recall referendum to remove him from office this year, although authorities have said there would be no such vote.
Venezuela views the OAS as a pawn of hostile USA policy, and Maduro has often dismissed Almagro as a turncoat working for its ideological adversaries in Washington.
The Venezuelan government has called its supporters to take to the streets on Wednesday to protest against the OAS’ “vulgar and brutal interference”.
Tensions have been building in deeply polarized Venezuela as the economy continues to fall apart and the ruling party blocks the opposition from legislating in congress and holding marches in downtown Caracas.
Advertisement
The meeting is expected to be held sometime between the 10 and 20 of June and is expected to coincide with the meeting of the OAS General Assembly in the Dominican Republic between 13 and 15 June. The two sides did not meet face-to-face, but the fact that the mediators passed messages between them was major news in Venezuela.
