Venezuela Condemns US, OAS Over Calls to Invoke Democratic Charter

Puebla, Mexico, May 6, 2016 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuela’s foreign minister Delcy Rodriguez has accused the head of the Organisation of American States of collaborating with the United States to undermine the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

Rodriguez said Thursday talks at the OAS over whether to suspend Venezuela from the regional body were part of a campaign of “ongoing and relentless aggression by the United States against Venezuela”.

“Venezuela is constantly being threatened by opposition forces working with centres of imperialism that support … the destabilisation of our countries,” she said.

Rodriguez issued the remarks during an extraordinary session of the OAS. The session was called by the Venezuelan government in response to separate talks between right-wing Venezuelan politicians and OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro. During a meeting last week, a delegation of Venezuelan legislators urged Almagro to call for the OAS Democratic Charter to be invoked against Maduro’s government. Such a move would lead to a suspension of Venezuela from the regional body.

While the US government has backed calls for the OAS to consider action against Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua have expressed support for Caracas.

Bolivia’s OAS representative Diego Pary said Maduro is facing a new wave of international aggression, and his Nicaraguan counterpart Denis Moncada suggested the OAS was at risk of overstepping its role.

“We see no moral standing for intervention in any states,” he said.

Rodriguez argued Venezuela’s government has long upheld the Democratic Charter. The charter has been invoked against Venezuela once, during a short lived coup in 2002 that temporarily ousted Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez.

Rodriguez said the coup and subsequent waves of political violence in 2013 and 2014 were examples of the Venezuelan right-wing’s disregard for democracy.

The Maduro administration has long accused key figures within Venezuela’s right-wing political coalition, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) of backing the coup.

Earlier Thursday, Maduro’s supporters in the National Assembly demanded prosecutors charge four MUD legislators with treason. The four legislators were all involved in petitioning Almagro last week to consider invoking the OAS charter against Venezuela.

By holding talks with Almagro, the legislators “attacked (Venezuela’s) independence, sovereignty and security,” said pro-Maduro legislator Carmen Melendez

In Venezuela, treason carries a penalty of up to 30 years imprisonment.