The Organisation of American States Will Not Send a Mission to Venezuela
Ambassadors from Organisation of American States (OAS) member countries continue debating the situation in Venezuela after failing to reach a consensus last night.
Mérida, 7th March 2014 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – Ambassadors from Organisation of American States (OAS) member countries continue debating the situation in Venezuela after failing to reach a consensus last night.
In the talks yesterday, the options of sending a diplomatic mission to Venezuela or convoking a special council of OAS foreign ministers to review the situation were discarded.
Venezuelan foreign minister Elias Jaua today declared the stances “a victory” and said that the decisions reflect “the rejection of any type of intervention” in Venezuela.
The South American country has been affected by an opposition movement of protests, riots and street barricades for over a month, which have left at least 20 dead and over 300 wounded.
The Venezuelan government has rejected any kind of foreign “intervention” into the crisis, while the radical wing of the opposition has called on the OAS to support its cause with “firmness”.
The current OAS talks were convoked by Panama, in reaction to which President Maduro broke all relations with the Central American country this week. Maduro has stated that he would prefer the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) to discuss the situation, which would exclude the United States and Panama from talks.
According to the OAS secretary general, Jose Miguel Insulza, the most likely result of the OAS talks is a declaration which rejects the violence but “doesn’t condemn anyone”. He also said to press that the “greatest differences” between OAS countries exist around what level of importance to attribute to the “peace conference” initiated by the Venezuelan government to resolve the situation.