US PUSHES FOR VENEZUELA TO BE SUSPENDED FROM OAS
The United States and six influential members of the Organization of American States urged the body Monday to reject Venezuela’s elections and to begin moves to kick Caracas out of the club.
There is anger among Pan-American nations at Venezuela’s slide into chaos and autocratic rule, fueled by what US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dubbed President Nicolas Maduro’s attempt to “dismantle democracy.”
At the opening of the 48th annual meeting of the group, the United States was joined by Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico and Peru in proposing a resolution to reject the result of last month’s “unconstitutional” election in Venezuela.
The motion is expected to come up for a vote later Monday or on Tuesday. If it passes as expected, it would set in motion moves that could lead to Venezuela being symbolically suspended from the regional body — although Caracas has already announced its own intent to pull out.
In May, Maduro was returned to power in a vote that was largely boycotted by the opposition and denounced as an unconstitutional assault on democracy by Washington and most of Venezuela’s neighbors.
Maduro’s Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza was present as the OAS meeting opened to defend his government and to hear Pompeo reiterate the US call for Venezuela’s suspension.
Suspending the South American country, which sits on the world’s biggest proven oil reserves, “would show that the OAS backs up its words with action and it sends a powerful signal to the Maduro regime, only real elections will allow your government to be included in the family of nations,” Pompeo said.
The top American diplomat accused Maduro of “dismantling democracy,” and urged more Latin American states to join the US in imposing increased economic and diplomatic sanctions on his administration.
Under Article 21 of this charter, an extraordinary general assembly of OAS member states can suspend a country from the body, the main forum for Western Hemisphere countries to develop shared democratic norms.
The political crisis in Venezuela dominated the opening exchanges of the annual meeting in Washington, although Nicaragua also came under fire for its own harsh crackdown on opposition protesters.
A draft text, which should be voted on Tuesday, declared support for the people of Nicaragua and for all parties to engage “constructively in peaceful negotiations to strengthen democratic institutions and hold free, fair and timely elections.”
SOURCE – GUARDIAN
