(Photo: Jacquelyn Martin AP)
At long last, after a decade of timid leadership that condemned it to near irrelevance, the 34-country Organization of American States came back to life this week with a courageous letter by Secretary General Luis Almagro denouncing Venezuela’s efforts to rig its Dec. 6 legislative elections.
It was a pleasant surprise by the OAS’ new leader, a Uruguayan diplomat whom many of us regarded with apprehension when he was elected earlier this year. During his stint as Uruguay’s foreign minister in recent years, Almagro had most often looked the other way at constant violations of democratic principles by Venezuela.
Almagro’s activism to uphold the OAS democratic principles marks a sea change from previous OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza, who during his 2005-2015 leadership of the Washington-based organization refused to use his bully pulpit to formally condemn Venezuela’s abuses. Taking a narrow interpretation of the OAS bylaws, Insulza claimed that he had no powers to act unless asked to do so by member states.
Earlier this week, Almagro sent an unusually strong 18-page letter to the head of Venezuela’s government-controlled National Electoral Council, known by its Spanish acronym CNE. The Council had previously banned the OAS, the European Union and other credible international institutions from sending electoral observing missions to the Dec. 6 elections.
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Etiquetas: Luis Almagro, OAS
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