Venezuela’s representative to the Organization of American States (OAS) on Monday stormed out of a session of the 34-nation bloc, calling the meeting a “coup d’etat,” as regional pressure grew for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to fully restore democratic rule in the country.
The meeting of the OAS Permanent Council was called over the weekend by 20 countries, including the US, concerned about democratic erosion in Venezuela under Maduro.
In a controversial move last week, the Venezuelan Supreme Court ruled that it was assuming functions of the opposition-led Venezuelan National Assembly.
Photo: Reuters
Critics viewed the ruling as a step toward dictatorship by Maduro’s Socialist Party, which has ruled for 18 years.
OAS Secretary-General Luis Almagro has called for Venezuela to be expelled from the group, a move that would further isolate Maduro.
Member countries of the OAS could separately impose sanctions on Venezuela as a form of pressure.
Monday’s meeting was canceled at first, but the bloc began a session in the afternoon, despite objections from Maduro’s leftist ally Bolivia, which took the bloc’s presidency.
The meeting proceeded with Honduras as chair.
Venezuelan Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for North America Samuel Moncada rejected a resolution condemning developments in Venezuela as an “act of treason.”
“The convening of this meeting is illegal, we reject it and denounce it to the whole world. This is a coup d’etat right here in the OAS,” he said.
Referring to the judiciary’s takeover last week of the legislature’s responsibility, which was later rowed back following an international outcry, Moncada said: “You’re imagining something that no longer exists so that you can promote intervention in Venezuela.”
The meeting later adopted a resolution calling on Venezuela to restore the full authority of the National Assembly, and to restore democratic order by exercising democracy and the rule of law under the constitution.
Venezuela’s opposition sought to keep pressure on Maduro’s government with scattered protests on Monday.
One group of protesters tried to block a major Caracas highway, while another dropped a pile of straw in front of court offices to protest the judiciary’s takeover.
Opposition Legislator Juan Requesens, of the Justice First party that is often at the forefront of protests, sustained a gash on the head after being hit by a stone during a fracas outside the public ombudsman’s office, witnesses said.
Protesters took live chickens there to symbolize cowardice, but were confronted by government supporters.
Opponents want to bring forward Venezuela’s next presidential election, scheduled for the end of next year, to try to end Maduro’s rule.
Maduro has said the US is leading a coup plot against his government.
One opposition party, COPEI, said in a statement that two of its members were arrested on Sunday and Monday.
Rights groups have said that more than 100 political leaders and activists are in jail, mostly on trumped-up charges.
Officials have said that all such individuals were imprisoned on legitimate criminal accusations.
Military intelligence agents picked up COPEI’s Roberto Enriquez and Eduardo Vetancourt and accused them of “rebellion” and “treason,” the party said.
“This is a fresh attack on those who think differently to the government,” it said in a statement.
Two military officers have also been detained, a local rights group said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in