Venezuela Accused of Violating the Entire Democratic Charter

HAVANA TIMES — The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, published an advance today on his report on Venezuela, which may be a first step towards the suspension of the country from the continental body, reported dpa news.

“The facts leave no room for doubt: Venezuela violates all the articles of the Inter-American Democratic Charter,” Almagro said in the document.

In February, the head of the OAS announced a revision of the document presented last May on the setbacks since the beginning of the dialogue between the government of Nicolas Maduro and the opposition.

Now he assures that there is a “total break” of the democratic order in Venezuela and that the only solution is “that the people can decide their destiny”. Almagro believes that the dialogue “has failed”.

“We cannot allow the premise of dialogue to continue to be used as a smokescreen to perpetuate and legitimize the authoritarian power of what has become a regime in Venezuela,” he writes.

In May last year, the Secretary General of the OAS invoked article 20 of the Democratic Charter, which authorizes the Secretary General to convene a Permanent Council when in a member state there is “an alteration of the constitutional order that seriously affects its democratic order.”