OAS does not approve resolution to ask Venezuela to reveal voting records

The member countries of the Organization of American States (OAS) did not reach the necessary consensus on Wednesday to approve a resolution that asked the Venezuelan authorities to publish “immediately” the minutes of last Sunday’s elections.

The absence of Mexico and several Caribbean countries, coupled with the abstention of 11 countries, including Brazil, Colombia and Bolivia, meant that the necessary votes were not obtained to approve the document in an extraordinary session of the Permanent Council.

Prior to the vote, behind closed doors, representatives of the OAS member countries negotiated the text of the document for more than 5 hours.

The key to the outcome of the vote lies there, in the disagreements that arose in these talks.

According to some ambassadors during the session, tensions were generated by a phrase in the resolution that called for a “comprehensive verification” of the results. “in the presence of independent observation organizations to ensure the transparency, credibility and legitimacy of the results”.

In turn, the language of this article ensured that the request to verify the results had already been made by “the relevant Venezuelan political actors”.

Countries that abstained from voting asked for this article to be withdrawn in order to give their support to the resolution, a diplomatic source told EFE.

Faced with this request, the source indicated, Panama and Peru opposed, “blocking a negotiation” and calling for a vote on the resolution, which was initially sought to be approved unanimously.

Prior to the Council session, Panamanian President José Rául Mulino said that his country would not endorse a resolution that was not “fully useful” to reach a “real solution” to the situation in Venezuela.

Diplomatic calculation

Colombia’s abstention generated a wave of internal criticism from former Colombian presidents and politicians, who accused Gustavo Petro’s government of being “accomplice” by one “fraud” electoral in Venezuela.

Colombia’s ambassador to the OAS, Luis Ernesto Vargas, said during the session that the decision to abstain from voting was discussed with the Colombian Foreign Ministry and was due to doubts about the OAS itself.

Vargas said that after the statements on Tuesday by the Secretary General, Luis Almagro, where he asked Maduro to accept a “defeat” In the elections, “It is complex to present to the OAS” as an organism “impartial”.

He also referred to the fact that Venezuela has no representation in the OAS, after the country submitted its request to leave the organization in 2017.

The Colombian government, which has played a key mediating role in the Venezuelan political crisis, has publicly urged Venezuela to allow itself a scrutiny “transparent” of the elections, which includes “vote counting, minutes” and international monitoring.

And, as a Colombian Foreign Ministry source explained to EFE, the Government of Gustavo Petro is in talks with Mexico and Brazil. “to create the necessary conditions and seek an agreement for coexistence and political peace”.

US changes tone and acknowledges victory “irrefutable” of Gonzalez

Also during the OAS session, the U.S. State Department’s representative for Latin America, Brian Nichols, said that there is evidence “irrefutable” to declare the victory of the opposition candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, in the Venezuelan presidential elections of July 28.

The diplomat urged both Maduro and the other countries of the “world” to recognize González’s victory, supporting the validity of the voting records published by the opposition on a website.

The information published by the anti-Chavez supporters contradicts the version of the Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE), which declared victory to Maduro in the early hours of Monday with 51% of the votes.

The CNE, however, has not shown the total vote counts, something that has been demanded by both the opposition and the citizens in mass protests and by part of the international community.

To the resolution of this Wednesday Argentina, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, the United States and Uruguay voted in favour.

Se Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Grenada, Honduras, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Saint Lucia abstained.

Dominica, Mexico, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago did not participate in the session. in addition to Venezuelaabsent from the body for a long time.