The OAS Dangerously in
Disarray
- Sir Ronald Sanders, Antigua and
Barbuda's
Ambassador to the U.S. and OAS -
 
OAS Secretary-General Luis Almagro and U.S. Secretary of State
Mike
Pompeo at an OAS meeting on Venezuela in Washington, DC, January
24,
2019.
Over the last few days there has been a serious
overreach
by Luis Almagro of the authority he has as secretary-general of
the Organization of American States (OAS).
If Mr Almagro continues to exceed his authority,
plainly set
out in the Charter of the OAS, the already fragmented
organization will be headed for grave fracture.
The job of the secretary-general of any
multi-national
or
international organisation is to represent the positions of the
collective membership of the organization either after direction
by the appropriate governing bodies or after discussion with them
that establishes a consensus. Almost from the day of his
installation, Mr Almagro has steadfastly ignored any such
requirements.
In his latest overreach, Mr Almagro has taken
upon
himself to
unilaterally and publicly anoint an "Interim President" of
Venezuela. Almagro's selection is Juan Guaidó who was
elected by
the National Assembly -- made up of only opposition party
representatives -- as its president "for a year." He made this
spontaneous statement at a meeting on January 15 at the Centre
for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a U.S. think-tank
based in Washington, DC.
No official organ of the OAS has made any such
decision
or
even discussed it, and none has authorised Mr Almagro to make
it.
This latest unauthorized statement on Venezuelan
matters is
the most recent in a series by Almagro, directed at the
Venezuelan government that ruled-out both he, as
secretary-general, and the OAS as honest brokers in trying to
reach a settlement to the political divisions that have plagued
Venezuela over the past five years.
The secretary-general has also taken to tweeting
his
personal
views, which he incorrectly represents as speaking for the OAS, a
grouping of 34 countries. In a tweet on January 11, Luis Almagro
stated: "We support the agreement in Venezuela's national
assembly declaring the usurpation by Nicolás Maduro and
the need
to apply constitutional article 233 on a transitional government
and the call for an election."
Exactly who is the "we" to whom Almagro referred
is
unknown,
since he did not identify them. But what is known is that it is
not any official organ of the OAS, including the Permanent
Council, which is the highest decision-making body, representing
all member states at ambassadorial level.
It may be that Mr Almagro is working with a
handful of
countries which, from their own governments' declarations, oppose
the government of Nicolás Maduro to the point where they
are
using every means to topple it, but in doing so, he is not
representing the OAS or the collective will of the member-states.
Governments are free to pursue their own national policies on
Venezuela, but they have no entitlement to impose those policies
on the OAS.
The reality is that the membership of the OAS is
deeply
divided, not over the troubling humanitarian, political and
financial crisis in Venezuela, but over the response to it.
There is no member state that condones the
political
impasse
created by both ruling and opposition parties; the shortage of
food and medicines; the hardship being endured by a large number
of Venezuelans; and now the flow of refugees into neighbouring
countries. The disagreement arises from the manner in which 14
countries, calling themselves "The Lima Group" has held private
meetings to fashion decisions which they then try to push through
the Permanent Council of the OAS on a majority vote of 18.
The problem with this approach is that when a
majority
of 18
secures passage of a resolution or a declaration on which others
have not been consulted and that is unpalatable to them, a trail
of bitterness is left among the 15 others, particularly when it
is known that governments have been cajoled and pressured to help
attain the majority of 18.
It is sad that in the Americas, the governments
of
countries
that benefitted from the wisdom of the founding fathers of the
United States, ignore the observation of Thomas Jefferson, one of
the authors of the U.S. Constitution, that: "All, too, will bear
in
mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority
is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be
reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which
equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression."
Tied-up with Secretary-General Almagro's disdain
for
the
official organs of the OAS is his decision now to run for a
second term, although he had previously indicated that he would
not. His stance on Venezuela, particularly, would have endeared
him to those member states whose governments might wish him to
remain as an additional instrument for advancing their peculiar
interests.
But, if Mr Almagro is not reined-in and his
overreach
not
curtailed, many member-states will not tolerate it, and the
organization will be damaged irreparably. Governments, except the
timid and the frightened, will not sit by idly while their rights
are eroded, and their voices disregarded.
Mr Almagro's latest dangerous pronouncement, made
casually at
the CSIS meeting on January 15, is that, if what he calls "the
interim president" of Venezuela being Juan Guaidó, one of
the
leaders of the opposition, designates representatives to the OAS,
he will accept their credentials and seat them, presumably
ousting the current delegates.
The secretary-general has no such authority. No
instrument of
the OAS gives him that power. And, if it is that Mr Almagro is
setting-up this possibility for any vested-interest group in the
OAS to force adoption of such a notion by a majority vote of 18,
the OAS, in its present form, will not survive it.
To be clear, objection to any such action will
not come
because any country is blindly supporting the Maduro government
in Venezuela; it will come because the precedent it would
establish would be far-reaching and dangerous for any other
country that is targeted for whatever reason.
The rules of international organizations and
international
law must be respected and upheld, or disarray will result.
Venezuela needs a negotiated and sustainable
solution
for the
sake of its people and for the stability of the region. Promoting
division within Venezuela and isolating its de facto government
from diplomatic discourse simply protracts the hardships the
people endure.
Sir Ronald Sanders, in addition to being
Antigua
and
Barbuda's Ambassador to the U.S. and OAS, is a Senior Fellow
at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London
and Massey College, University of Toronto.
This article was published in
Volume 49 Number 2 - January 26, 2019
Article Link:
The OAS Dangerously in
Disarray - Sir Ronald Sanders, Antigua and
Barbuda's
Ambassador to the U.S. and OAS
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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