Ja’s vote on OAS Venezuela resolution remains a secret
Ja’s vote on OAS Venezuela resolution remains a secret
THE FOREIGN Ministry has been silent so far on Jamaica’s voting position on the failed Venezuela resolution pushed by the United States and Mexico at this week’s Organisation of American States (OAS) General Assembly.
The situation has also showed how deep the divisions in CARICOM are over how the countries of the Americas should respond to the political and economic crisis gripping the South American country being led by Nicolás Maduro. More than 70 people have been reportedly killed in antigovernment protests.
The OAS meeting of its 35 members ended on Wednesday without the inclusion of a mediation proposal in a final declaration. The US was hoping to get support for the creation of a “group of friends” to help mediate the Venezuela problem. But Venezuelan allies felt it was interventionist.
NO VOTES FOR CONSTITUTION REWRITE
On Monday, attempts to get a stronger resolution that would have called for the Maduro administration to “reconsider” an assembly to rewrite the constitution failed to get enough votes. It would have also called for an end to violence and for the respect of the separation of powers, Reuters news agency has reported. The proposal got 20 votes in favour when 23 were needed to pass the resolution.
According to a Miami Herald report, CARICOM nations St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica, and St Kitts and Nevis voted against, while Haiti, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, and Antigua and Barbuda abstained.