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href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13028">https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13028</a></font>
<h1 id="reader-title">Venezuela and Bolivia Condemn “Coup” at
OAS</h1>
<div id="reader-credits" class="credits">By Lucas Koerner</div>
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<p><span></span>Caracas, April 3, 2017 (<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/venezuelanalysis.com">venezuelanalysis.com</a>)
– Venezuela and Bolivia condemned Monday what they
termed a “coup” in the Organization of American States
(OAS) after an extraordinary session concerning
Venezuela was held without the presence of the president
and vice-president pro tempore in violation of internal
protocols.</p>
<p>On Friday, OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro called a
“special meeting” scheduled for Monday to discuss a
since-reversed Venezuelan Supreme Court ruling that
would have empowered the judiciary to assume
parliamentary functions in light of the
opposition-controlled National Assembly’s contempt of
the constitution.</p>
<p>The meeting was, however, suspended Monday morning by
Bolivia, which assumed the OAS Permanent Council’s
rotating presidency Saturday, on the grounds that the
Bolivian delegation “was not consulted and did not
receive any information” regarding the session it was
meant to facilitate. </p>
<p>In an official statement, Bolivia’s Foreign Ministry
indicated that the session would be rescheduled “once
the necessary coordination had been carried out in the
framework of the OAS Charter and organizational norms”. </p>
<p>Despite the cancelation, at around 3pm in the afternoon
a group of 20 countries decided to hold the meeting
regardless, designating Honduras as “interim president”
in the absence of the president, Bolivia, and the
vice-president, Haiti.</p>
<p>The move was sanctioned by OAS legal advisor Jean
Michel Arrighi, who argued that in the absence of
Bolivia the presidency could be exercised by the longest
serving representative in the body, whom he claimed was
Honduran delegate Leonidas Rosa Bautista.</p>
<p>However, screenshots of the OAS’ official delegate page
uploaded by Venezuela’s OAS mission revealed that in
fact Bolivia’s representative, Diego Pary Rodriguez, is
the longest serving ambassador to the OAS.</p>
<p>Rodriguez, for his part, slammed the motion to go ahead
with the session presided by Honduras as an “illegal”
usurpation of its powers in violation of the
organization’s internal statutes.</p>
<p>“Today what is happening is an institutional coup and a
disregard for international norms,” he affirmed.</p>
<p>Bolivia, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Venezuela all called
points of order during the intervention of Argentine
Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra in an attempt to abort
the meeting. The representatives form Bolivia,
Nicaragua, and Ecuador subsequently walked out of the
session in protest. </p>
<p>Notwithstanding the objections, Honduras proceeded to
open debate over a text presented by Peru that declared
an “altercation of the constitutional order” in
Venezuela and resolved to “urge action by the Venezuelan
government to safeguard the separation and independence
of powers”.</p>
<p>After nearly 24 minutes of debate, Venezuela’s
delegate, Samuel Moncada, also walked out of the
session, condemning the violation of the OAS Charter’s
“principle of non-intervention” as well as the body’s
internal rules.</p>
<p>In particular, the Venezuelan ambassador denounced
Malcorra’s remarks during the session, after she called
for neighboring countries to exercise “tutelage” over
Venezuela to “ensure compliance with the electoral
timetable”. </p>
<p>Quoting Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, he
declared, “he who wants to be an eagle can fly, he who
wants to be a worm can crawl, but don’t cry when you’re
stepped on”.</p>
<p>El Salvador similarly protested the “abnormal manner”
in which Honduras assumed the presidency, urging
dialogue as the only solution to the current standoff in
Venezuela, a call that was seconded by the Dominican
Republic.</p>
<p>Despite the dissentions, the Mexican delegation
motioned for the resolution “to be adopted without
proceeding to a vote”, a proposal that was also backed
by Chile. </p>
<p>Canada’s ambassador, for her part, proposed for the
vote to be postponed until Wednesday in order to have
more member-states present at the session. </p>
<p>Ultimately, the resolution was not subject to an
official vote, being instead approved by consensus with
the support of just 15 of 35 member-states: Argentina,
Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, United
States, Jamaica, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Barbados,
Guatemala, Panama, and Uruguay. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, Belize, Bahamas, El Salvador, and Dominican
Republic refused to support the document. </p>
<p>The resolution was roundly condemned as a “coup d’état”
by Caracas and La Paz. </p>
<p>Speaking on national television Monday evening,
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called the move “a
coup against the sister peoples of Bolivia and Haiti”. </p>
<p>“It’s shameful what they are doing, I think the OAS has
gone on to become an anti-Venezuela, anti-Bolivarian
inquisition court,” he asserted. </p>
<p>Bolivian President Evo Morales likewise took to Twitter
Monday to blast the abrogation of his country’s right to
exercise the OAS pro tempore presidency. </p>
<p>“Once again the OAS has become the Ministry of
Colonies. An institutional coup has occurred to prevent
Bolivia from exercising the presidency,” he said </p>
<p>The OAS Permanent Council is set meet again on
Wednesday for an ordinary session, though it remains
unclear if Venezuela will be on the agenda. </p>
<p class="published">Published on Apr 4th 2017 <br>
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