T&T calls for removal of OAS Secretary General over Venezuela issue
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – Trinidad and Tobago has called for the removal of Secretary General of the Organisation of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, over his non-neutral position on the political situation in Venezuela and warned the 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) grouping of the possibility of destroying “itself as an honest broker with respect to any involvement in assistance to Venezuela and its internal problems”.
“Trinidad and Tobago registered a strong objection to the behaviour of the OAS leadership. The public servants from the OAS took it upon themselves to engage the Government of Venezuela, the president in fact, in a very derogatory manner,” Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley told a news conference on Wednesday evening on his return from an official two-day visit to Chile.He said Port of Spain had taken objection to Almagro, because of the “very derogatory manner” in which he had engaged Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro.Almagro, an attorney and a former Uruguayan diplomat and politician has called for the suspension of Venezuela from the Washington-based group unless general elections are held soon to break a political impasse that he said is destroying the country’s democracy.He made his request in a 75-page report on Venezuela’s political crisis, in which he accused Maduro’s socialist government of systematically violating human rights and standards of democracy enshrined in the Inter-American Democratic Charter, to which Venezuela is a signatory.He also accused Maduro of carrying out a coup after the country’s Supreme Court took over the functions of the opposition led congress.“The sentences from the Supreme Court are the final blows with which the regime subverts the constitutional order of the country and finishes with democracy,” Almagro said recently.Rowley told reporters that his country’s position is based on the behaviour of Almagro, who is a public servant and whose job requires him not to take sides, resulting in the institution being compromised “and cannot now play any significant role in treating with Venezuela’s difficulty.” He said that despite Trinidad and Tobago’s long-held position of not interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, he was “one hundred per cent sure,” that Trinidad and Tobago could have played a role in an OAS initiative to resolve the situation in Venezuela, if such an initiative was available.“But because of the behaviour of the OAS leadership, the OAS has now removed itself from any meaningful participation. And, in fact, it has deteriorated into partisan attacks and it is threatening to have the same effect on CARICOM,” Rowley said, making reference to the “aggressive” positions adopted by certain members of the 15-member grouping.“If we are not careful, CARICOM too could destroy itself as an honest broker with respect to any involvement in assistance to Venezuela and its internal problems,” said Rowley.Last month CARICOM foreign ministers called for non-interference in the internal affairs of Venezuela where several people have been killed in street demonstrations aimed at forcing the Maduro government out of power.In a statement following a meeting in Barbados, the foreign ministers “decried the violence taking place and deplored the resulting loss of life and property” and “reiterated the importance they accord to maintenance of the rule of law, respect for human rights and democracy, as well as to the fundamental principles of non-intervention and non-interference in the internal affairs of states. These values and principles were viewed as being of paramount importance when addressing international situations of concern.”Earlier, St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves had cautioned CARICOM to refrain from allowing a small group of powerful nations to dilute the “collective strength” of the 15 member regional grouping on the Venezuela issue.Gonsalves, in a three page letter to CARICOM leaders warned that a wedge is being driven through CARICOM over a plan for “regime change” in Venezuela and the group of powerful nations with the Organisation of America States (OAS) has an “agenda of naked self-interest”.He said the group has “strategically invited select CARICOM countries to their meetings and ignored the others. In the result, they have succeeded in disuniting and weakening CARICOM countries whose only strength lies in our solidarity.“This worrying development has been particularly manifest in matters relating to Venezuela,” said Gonsalves in his May 10 letter.Earlier this week, several former heads of state and governments in Latin and Central America have called on Caribbean governments to openly condemn the ongoing political unrest in Venezuela.In an open letter to the Caribbean leaders, the former leaders including Felipe Calderón of México, Oscar Arias of Costa Rica, Mireya Moscoso of Panamá and Alfredo Cristiani of El Salvador, say they want to express “our indignation and strong public condemnation of the flagrant and escalating repression by the dictatorial and military government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela” In their letter, the former heads of governments and states in Latin and Central America said they had signed declarations of the Democratic Initiative of Spain and the Americas (IDEA-Democrática), and that the “images broadcast by social media and the international press confirm” the “repressive practices”in public spaces in Venezuela.“They include assassination, torture, mass arrest and intimidation of Venezuelans, primarily young people, at the hands of police and military authorities assisted by paramilitary groups. The sole reason for the repression is that Venezuelans are protesting in the streets of their country,” they wrote.Prime Minister Rowley told reporters that he made Trinidad and Tobago’s position clear to Chile, as a leader in South America, “that it is our view, as a long-standing member of the OAS, that the leadership of the OAS, at this point in time, needs to change so that the institution can return to having the potential of being an honest broker to intervene and to provide a pathway for peace and progress in situations as they exist in Venezuela now.”