Today the Colombian Senate approved a declaration today backing the Venezuelan opposition in its request for a recall referendum against President Hugo Chavez, calling for an immediate call for the referendum. In the declaration, the Colombian Senate calls for the application of the OAS Democratic charter of which Venezuela is a participant. The Colombian Senate argued that they are making this request due to the fact that the Chavze regime is not recognizing the principles that oversee a democracy and human rights.
The decision is important because it shows the growing concern in Latin America over the Venezuelan situation and puts added pressure on Chavez and the Government to follow the country’s Constitution. It is no small step for the Senate of the neighboring country to do what they did today. This will clearly put a damper on Venezuelan-Colombian relations, one of the most significant trading partners the country has.
The pressure on the Chavez administration goes both ways, they could decide to accept the pressure or it could push the Government further into the realm of illegality. The Minister of Foreign Relations argued that the decision is a coarse interference n the country’s affairs, while Deputy Tarek William Saab called it media noise and a publicity stunt, attempting to blame the Us Government on the announcement.
As usual, Venezuelan Government officials twisted the reality calling the decision an interference in Venezuelan politics, forgetting the terms of the Interamerican Democratic Charter, which allows any member Government to ask for the charter to be invoked. It is clearly within the scope of the Colombian Senate to ask its Government requesting such an act.
It will be interesting to see what the reaction of the Colombian Government is. It clearly creates problems for its diplomacy. While internally the Colombian Government may agree with the declaration by the Senate, they may disagree with the timing of the vote, preferring to wait until the Chavez Government has stepped further away from legality before addressing the issue.
At the same time, it is clear that the Interamerican Democratic Charter has mostly been empty words so far as it was useless in the case of the Fujimori Government and its existence has done little to induce the Chavez administration to obey its own Constitution and stop the violation of Human Rights in Venezuela. In fact, during the last month and a half human rights violations and the attempt to cover them up have intensified in both numbers and intensity, unmasking the true nature of the Government.
For the opposition, it is another small step and a recognition that following the democratic path is working and international opinion is no longer on Chavez’ side.
The Devil's Excrement 
Leave a comment