- The body was unable to approve its agreement to demand the publication of the electoral records by one vote, while Brazil and Colombia decided to abstain and Mexico was absent from the meeting.
The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) failed to approve its resolution on July 31 rejecting the political situation in Venezuela following the presidential elections. The agreement sought to establish a position and require Venezuelan authorities to make public the voting records in order to finally decide whether the winner was Nicolás Maduro, as proclaimed by the National Electoral Council (CNE); or Edmundo González Urrutia, as the opposition claims with the copies of the records collected by its witnesses.
Eighteen votes from member states were required for approval, but it received 17, while 11 countries abstained and five were absent. None voted against. The resolution was supported by Argentina, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, the United States, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Suriname and Uruguay.
For their part, Colombia and Brazil, countries that have played a crucial role in mediating the Venezuelan crisis in recent months, decided to abstain even though their governments have specifically requested verification of the minutes. The same is true of Bolivia and Honduras, the only OAS member countries that have openly recognized Maduro’s alleged victory.
The remaining abstentions came from Caribbean countries such as the Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Grenada. Finally, Mexico, Dominica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago preferred not to attend the meeting.
What is happening with the Venezuelan delegation?
The fifth vote recognized as absent in the OAS session was that of Venezuela itself. This is due to the particular situation it finds itself in after the political crisis of 2019, when the interim government of Juan Guaidó was proclaimed, which was supported and recognized by this organization.
As early as 2017, the Maduro government had announced its withdrawal from the OAS, following the same path as Nicaragua, although it was still in the process when its delegation was suspended and replaced by the one sent by Guaidó. However, with the dissolution of the interim government in 2022, Venezuela was left without representation, except for some spontaneous interventions by the official commission outside the official agenda. For this reason, its absence from the sessions is counted as absence in the votes.
The resolution
The resolution promoted by the OAS was based on the principles of the Inter-American Democratic Charter of mutual defense and promotion of democracy. It also started from the agreements of Mexico and Barbados in which the Maduro government committed to holding transparent and verifiable presidential elections, with full participation of the opposition.
Among its points, it urged the CNE to immediately publish the results of the July 28 elections from each of its polling stations. It also urged it to comply with the recommendations of different political actors and governments to carry out a comprehensive verification process of the results with independent international observation. It also stressed the importance of taking care of the entire chain of custody of the voting process, including the protection of voting machines and electoral records.
“It is an absolute priority to safeguard fundamental human rights in Venezuela, especially the right of citizens to demonstrate peacefully without reprisals,” the third point stated.
Finally, he called on the Venezuelan government to respect the Vienna Convention and guarantee the security of diplomatic missions in the country, as well as of the personnel working there and of those seeking asylum. This was in reference to the recent siege of the Argentine Embassy in Caracas by security forces in an attempt to arrest six opposition activists who had taken refuge there.
Divided opinions
Before the OAS session began, Mexican President Andrés López Obrador announced the position his delegation would take, considering the resolution “interventionist.” He also assured that there is no evidence of electoral fraud in Venezuela, despite the fact that the minutes presented by the opposition differ greatly from the result issued by the CNE, and give Edmundo González an advantage of more than 20 points over Maduro.
On the other hand, the Peruvian foreign minister, Javier González-Olaeche, strongly criticized the fact that the resolution did not have a majority due to the number of countries that abstained and were absent. “What does abstaining mean? Basically, it means not having enough will to express that they are in favor of the verification of the votes that theoretically assign victory to Maduro,” he said.
Criticism fell especially on Colombia, whose president Gustavo Petro recently advocated for the publication of the minutes as a way of demonstrating the transparency of the questioned elections. Senator María Fernanda Cabal spoke out on the matter, considering the positions of the president and Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo to be inconsistent.
“While they remain silent and make statements to distract, they abstain from supporting or denying the resolution that calls on Maduro to immediately publish the results of the votes at the level of each electoral table, in front of the world. The truth is that Petro supports the genocidal Maduro,” he declared.
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2024-08-01 09:33:19
