OAS Ultimatum: Venezuela Elections or Suspension
Latin American Herald Tribune
March 15, 2017

In a 73 page Report, Organization of the American States Secretary General Luis Almagro calls for Venezuela to be suspended from the OAS unless it holds "general elections in the next 30 days, releases all political prisoners, recognizes the laws that have been annulled and selects a new CNE and a new TSJ."

CARACAS -- Organization of the American States (OAS) Secretary General Luis Almagro has called for Venezuela to be suspended from the OAS if elections are not held "as quickly as possible."

In a 73 page Report that is footnoted with over 210 sources -- including LAHT's own Russ Dallen -- Almagro stressed that elections are the way out of Venezuela's disastrous economy and severe food shortages.

"The facts have become clear. Venezuela is in violation of every article in the Inter-American Democratic Charter," Almagro concluded. "Democracy and Human Rights are values that must be above politics and the task before us is to support Venezuela and restore the rights of the people."

Dialogue Has Failed

"For more than a year, the message to the Venezuelan public has been that it is time for dialogue. However, dialogue has failed," Almagro writes. "We cannot allow the premise of a false dialogue to continue to be used as a smokescreen to perpetuate and legitimize the authoritarian power of what has become a dictatorial regime in Venezuela."

"This dialogue mechanism has decidedly reinforced the government’s strategy for holding on to power through repeated, continuous violations of the Constitution. These constitutional violations have had devastating effects on the rights of the people and on the representatives elected by those people.

"The people of Venezuela are faced with a government that is no longer accountable. The Constitution no longer has any meaning."

"The rule of law no longer exists in Venezuela; it has been eliminated by a judiciary under the complete control of the Executive Branch that has invalidated every law passed by the National Assembly along with its constitutional powers. It has also invalidated the rights of the people, particularly their electoral rights. In Venezuela today, citizens are unable to assert their rights. If the government wishes to imprison them, it does so; if it wishes to torture them, it does so. If the Government chooses, it does not bring them before a judge; if it chooses, it does not bring formal charges. Citizens have been left entirely at the mercy of an authoritarian regime that denies them their most basic rights. Because these abuses were conceived and executed in parallel to the mediation process, they undermined its credibility," Almagro notes.

Devastation

"Corruption is rampant and the economy is in a free fall. There is not enough food, health services are extremely scarce and the humanitarian crisis is at a scale unheard of in the Western Hemisphere. Civil and political rights are ignored, all for the sake of preserving the wealth, privilege and impunity of those holding onto power."

"As Secretary General of the Organization of American States, I must express my regret that the report I have written is brimming with abuses, rights violations, curtailment of civil, political and electoral freedoms, poverty, hunger, deprivation of liberty, torture, censorship, and the whole catalog of violations of political, social and personal dignity.

As head of the Organization’s central and permanent organ, I must acknowledge my frustration with the fact that the world’s oldest international organization has been unable to act in time to halt this downward spiral of political, economic and social deterioration and collapse in such an important country of our region.

It has been the hallmark of this Hemisphere to hold high the liberating banner of solidarity: When the shadows of dictatorship descended upon the Southern Cone, it was Mexico, Venezuela (how important to recall this now!), the U.S. under President Carter, the IACHR and many others who helped us to bury the darkness of despotism.

When institutional subjugation and fratricide invaded Central America, it was the people of Latin America who, through national efforts and the Contadora Group initiative, came to their aid.

When Peru saw the rule of law trampled, when in Venezuela President Chávez suffered a coup d’état, when so many other countries neared the abyss of autocratic terror, the Hemisphere showed its solidarity and drew them back toward democracy.

Today, this is the moral and ethical obligation—the categorical imperative—we face as nations and as an organization: To bring Venezuela back to the principles of the InterAmerican System and return democracy to the country.

I am absolutely convinced that the Heads of State and Government in the Americas share my conviction that this is the continent that believes that Videla, Gregorio Alvarez, Pinochet, Fujimori, Perez Jimenez, Noriega, Trujillo, the Duvaliers, Stroessner, Somoza, and so many others, are not only footnotes but instead, represent a tragic dimension in the history of our countries. This is the destiny of Nicolas Maduro and Diosdado Cabello.

Our task is to free any of our countries from these unfortunates, based on Inter-American solidarity."

"As a Hemisphere, we reject authoritarianism, are repulsed by torture, fight drug trafficking and organized crime, reject censorship, and consider poverty a disgrace to be overcome. In reading a report such as this, all our Heads of State and Government and Foreign Ministers will feel the same sadness I felt when writing it."

"The first thing Member States must do is recognize that there has been an alteration of the constitutional order and then call for its immediate return, in accordance with the Bolivarian Constitution as well as Articles 3 to 16 of the Democratic Charter. The General Secretariat offers its support in order for this to be done in accordance with the unavoidable commitments that Venezuela has with the Inter-American System.

If the political system is not capable of responding positively to the recommendations within a 30 day time frame, then the provisions under Article 21 should be applied, especially given the amount of time that has elapsed since May of 2016.

The unequivocal signal of resuming the constitutional order of the country is; a call for general elections in the next 30 days, the release of all political prisoners, recognition of the laws that have been annulled and the selection of a new CNE and a new TSJ, in accordance with the procedures outlined in the Constitution."

"I believe that if general elections are not held in accordance with the stipulated conditions, it would be necessary to suspend Venezuela from the activities of the Organization, pursuant to Article 21 of the Inter-American Democratic
Charter."

OAS SG - Report on Venezuela - 14 March 2017 by Latin American Herald Tribune on Scribd