The head of the Organization of American States (OAS) opened a hemispheric summit late on Sunday with a warning against "silencing" political opponents, a week after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez shut down an opposition television station.
"The first duty of a democratic government is broadening democracy," OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza told delegates at the organization's 37th General Assembly.
"By contrast, if a government is silencing opponents, excludes them from the political process and resorts to repression, it embarks on a path toward certain weakening of democratic rule," Insulza added without mentioning Chavez directly.
PHOTO: AFP
He urged Latin American nations to promote a climate of tolerance as they confront multiple political, economic and social challenges.
Venezuela's oldest and most popular television channel, RCTV, went of the air a week ago, after Chavez refused to renew its broadcasting license, accusing the station of subversion.
The country has been in turmoil ever since, with thousands of students and other opponents of Venezuela's mercurial ruler taking to the streets to protest the move.
Thousands of demonstrators marched in Caracas again on Sunday, slamming Chavez's shutdown of RCTV that openly called for his ouster in 2002, during a two-day coup bid against him that ultimately failed.
Tooting whistles and waving Venezuelan flags, demonstrators also spoke out noisily against government ombudsman German Mundarain, who on Friday endorsed Chavez's move.
He also suggested there was a link between protesting students and parties who might be trying to topple leftist Chavez.
On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of Chavez backers marched in a show of support for his controversial maneuver, now an international scandal.
The conflict has spilled over into the halls of the OAS assembly, where a group of former employees of the defunct network is lobbying foreign ministers, urging them to hold a full-scale debate on the situation in Venezuela.
They have enjoyed tacit support from the US, which has submitted to the OAS Permanent Council a statement by the US Senate, in which the upper chamber of Congress urged the OAS to come up with a response to Chavez's decision.
But while not ruling out changes in the assembly's agenda, Insulza told reporters at the start of the meeting that so far, no member nation has presented a formal request that the issue of RCTV be discussed at the forum.
Venezuela's OAS representative, Jorge Valero, said on Saturday that a discussion of RCTV's closing would be considered "interference" in Venezuela's domestic affairs.
But he later said such a debate, if it were to occur, will give Venezuela "an excellent opportunity" to explain its government's action.
PRECARIOUS RELATIONS: Commentators in Saudi Arabia accuse the UAE of growing too bold, backing forces at odds with Saudi interests in various conflicts A Saudi Arabian media campaign targeting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has deepened the Gulf’s worst row in years, stoking fears of a damaging fall-out in the financial heart of the Middle East. Fiery accusations of rights abuses and betrayal have circulated for weeks in state-run and social media after a brief conflict in Yemen, where Saudi airstrikes quelled an offensive by UAE-backed separatists. The United Arab Emirates is “investing in chaos and supporting secessionists” from Libya to Yemen and the Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia’s al-Ekhbariya TV charged in a report this week. Such invective has been unheard of
US President Donald Trump on Saturday warned Canada that if it concludes a trade deal with China, he would impose a 100 percent tariff on all goods coming over the border. Relations between the US and its northern neighbor have been rocky since Trump returned to the White House a year ago, with spats over trade and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney decrying a “rupture” in the US-led global order. During a visit to Beijing earlier this month, Carney hailed a “new strategic partnership” with China that resulted in a “preliminary, but landmark trade agreement” to reduce tariffs — but
SCAM CLAMPDOWN: About 130 South Korean scam suspects have been sent home since October last year, and 60 more are still waiting for repatriation Dozens of South Koreans allegedly involved in online scams in Cambodia were yesterday returned to South Korea to face investigations in what was the largest group repatriation of Korean criminal suspects from abroad. The 73 South Korean suspects allegedly scammed fellow Koreans out of 48.6 billion won (US$33 million), South Korea said. Upon arrival in South Korea’s Incheon International Airport aboard a chartered plane, the suspects — 65 men and eight women — were sent to police stations. Local TV footage showed the suspects, in handcuffs and wearing masks, being escorted by police officers and boarding buses. They were among about 260 South
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) purge of his most senior general is driven by his effort to both secure “total control” of his military and root out corruption, US Ambassador to China David Perdue said told Bloomberg Television yesterday. The probe into Zhang Youxia (張又俠), Xi’s second-in-command, announced over the weekend, is a “major development,” Perdue said, citing the family connections the vice chair of China’s apex military commission has with Xi. Chinese authorities said Zhang was being investigated for suspected serious discipline and law violations, without disclosing further details. “I take him at his word that there’s a corruption effort under
RSS