“I’m Not Almagro”, reads the paper-bag mask. Is anyone buying it? If so, I have a lovely bridge in Brooklyn that I’m looking to unload…
Well might a certain OAS chief be wanting to bag his face. Because what happened recently is nothing short of a whole basket of eggs, liberally applied not only to his own face, but those of all the member states who sat in on THIS latest fiasco:
On Thursday, the Organization of American States (OAS) ended its session of debate over whether or not to apply the Democratic Charter to Venezuela without taking any decision on the matter, which may in practice be termed an “archived event”.
The meeting took place amid harsh accusations on the part of the representatives of Venezuela, under the auspices of foreign minister Delcy Rodríguez, as well as Bolivia and Nicaragua, against the secretary-general, Luis Almagro, who at times provoked general sarcasm with his intemperate laughs, and was out when the representatives of progressive governments of the region gave their speeches, such as during the embarrassing case denounced by Ecuador in mid-session.
The 34 member states heard Almagro’s questionable 125-page report on the political and social crises in Venezuela, and received serious observations regarding the non-inclusion of official figures from organisms such as CEPAL, as well as the redaction of the same.
When the speeches were over, there was no call for voting to decide if the process of applying the Charter would proceed.
It’s up in the air as to whether this debate will resume, and when it might occur, because the session brought no announcement concerning it. That is, it was a session over nothing, whatever the intentions of Almagro who, one might add, impeded with this meeting that the OAS were present in Cuba for the signing of the bilateral ceasefire between the FARC and the government of Colombia.
Translation mine.
So, there you go. The OAS seems to be going out of its way to smear Venezuela, as well as its progressive allies in Latin America and the Caribbean. Why else spend all this time wrangling over nothing, and in so doing, fail to attend the historic peace treaty between the Colombian government and the FARC, who have been locked in a bitter civil war for more than five decades? While the news is full of bogus and smelly items about how Venezuelans are starving (read: being starved out with putschist intent by their own fascist oligarchs, not Chavismo), the making of some serious history in Colombia is being swept under the rug, along with Venezuela’s own key role in it (remember, Chavecito was one of the peace-brokers, back when he was still well enough to participate!)
In the end, the only thing that got accomplished at this latest OAS session is yet another sorry demonstration of why the OAS needs to die, and something more honest and progressive needs to replace it, pronto.
