Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) Luis Almagro denounced what he considered a “self-coup d’etat” in Venezuela and he called for an urgent summon to the Permanent Council of the continental entity.
Almagro condemned two rulings issued by the Venezuelan Supreme Court, which removed parliamentary immunity from members of the National Assembly (AN), as well as its legislative role.
What we have warned has become a reality,
declared the diplomat, referring to reports from May 2016 and March 14th, 2017 detailing anti-democratic actions from Nicolás Maduro’s government.
The head of the continental entity said that the Supreme Court of Venezuela took control of the Parliament through a ruling that “does not have constitutional support” and “violates the separation of powers.”
Almagro, a great critic of Caracas’ government since the moment he took office in 2015, called on the 34 member countries of the organization to “act right now.”
It is time to work together to recover democracy in Venezuela,
stated Almagro.
Being silent before a dictatorship is the lowest indignity in politics,
said the Uruguayan foreign minister in the statement.
In his latest report, Almagro had called on Venezuelan authorities to shortly convene general elections and he subsequently issued an ultimatum: ” If Venezuela does not resume a democratic path within a month, it must be suspended from the OAS.”
At the end of two extraordinary sessions of the Permanent Council focused on Venezuela, twenty countries of the continent committed to identify “diplomatic solutions as soon as possible” to the crisis in that country.
The document was only an expression of the twenty countries, the entity did not approve any resolution.