Venezuela following through with its threat to leave OAS
CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s government announced Wednesday that it will go ahead with its threatened withdrawal from the Organization of American States, the regional body whose leader has been one of the fiercest critics of embattled socialist President Nicolas Maduro.
The move came on the same day as fierce confrontations in the capital between security forces and anti-government protesters who staged yet another march amid political unrest that has been blamed for 29 deaths in recent weeks.
Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez called for the OAS withdrawal after a brief but contentious meeting at the group’s Washington headquarters in which its permanent council voted in favor of holding a special session to evaluate Venezuela’s crisis, adding to mounting international pressure for Maduro to schedule delayed elections and free detained political activists.
Rodriguez said the OAS’ action was taken to “intervene and take custody of our country, something that fortunately will never happen.”
Tension between a bloc of OAS members that includes the United States and Venezuela has been steadily rising since Secretary General Luis Almagro issued a 75-page report in March accusing Maduro’s government of systematically violating human rights and standards of democracy enshrined in the Inter-American Democratic Charter, to which Venezuela is a signatory. Almagro unsuccessfully urged OAS members to suspend Venezuela unless general elections were held soon.
Withdrawing from the OAS is a two-year process, but Rodriguez said Venezuela would immediately stop participating. Venezuela is estimated to owe the OAS about $10.5 million in unpaid annual dues. No country has ever withdrawn from the group since its founding in 1948.
Earlier in the day, thousands of protesters marched on Caracas’ main highway seeking to deliver a message to the national ombudsman, whose job is to stand up for citizens’ rights but who the opposition has tagged the “defender of the dictator.” They were met with plumes of tear gas that sent demonstrators running.
Opposition leaders said one protester, Juan Pablo Pernalete Llover, 20, died after being struck by a canister of tear gas. In all, 29 people have been killed, more than 400 injured and nearly 1,300 detained in the monthlong unrest roiling the nation.
Hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets demanding Maduro hold elections and denouncing his government as being responsible for triple-digit inflation, food shortages and a rise crime.