Above photo: Secretary of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, during a meeting in 2012.
The Organization of American States (OAS) has failed in an interventionist attempt to try to approve a resolution targeting the sovereign presidential elections in Venezuela. The discredited regional body has been plagued by condemnations of mismanagement and ethical qualms in recent years against its secretary, Luis Almagro, as well as by its loss of credibility among regional countries regarding the body’s belligerence in recent regional crises, always protecting Washington interests or claims over regional sovereignty.
By failing to obtain the necessary votes and consensus this Wednesday, July 31, the OAS was unable to pass its resolution against the Venezuelan electoral process. The failed OAS resolution targeted the National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela, seeking for them to publish the voting records “immediately,” dismissing the hacking attempts condemned by the CNE and the Supreme Court appeal filed by President Nicolás Maduro to protect the results of the elections.
The OAS vote ended with 17 votes in favor: Argentina, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, the US, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Suriname, and Uruguay.
There were also 11 abstentions recorded by Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Grenada, Honduras, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Antigua and Barbuda, as well as five absences, represented by Mexico, Dominica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
The draft resolution, entitled “On the elections in Venezuela of July 28, 2024” recognized the “substantial and peaceful” participation of Venezuelans last Sunday. However, it utilized Washington’s narratives of “fraud” against the Bolivarian Revolution in an act of full interference, resulting in another failed attempt in Almagro’s obsession with regime change in Venezuela.
The resolution also attempted to demand that “a comprehensive verification of the results be carried out in the presence of independent observation organizations to guarantee the transparency, credibility, and legitimacy of the electoral results,” which would usurp the responsibilities of the CNE and disregard the context of the international observers already invited to witness the electoral process.
Venezuela decided to unilaterally withdraw from the OAS in 2019, after President Nicolás Maduro stated that the organization had been a failure and had become a “space of imperial domination.” However, Almagro and the Permanent Council of the organization have repeatedly targeted the situation in Venezuela under the argument that they are “helping” democracy in the hemisphere.