As Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez delivered a fiery rebuke to what she called interference in her country’s internal affairs, enthusiasm appeared to be waning among diplomats at the Organization of American States to take a forceful role in the political and economic crisis consuming Caracas.
Representatives at an extraordinary OAS session on Tuesday were torn between wanting to see the results of current mediation efforts in Venezuela — including private talks scheduled between top U.S. State Department official Thomas Shannon and embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro — and more forceful measures urged earlier this month by OAS Secretary-General Luis Almagro.
The OAS session heard from former Prime Minister of Spain Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, speaking publicly for the first time about the mediation effort sponsored by the South American group UNASUR that he and the ex-presidents of the Dominican Republic and Panama have launched in Venezuela.
“The values that we support are shown by example. They are not imposed, they are proposed,” Mr. Zapatero said.
The Shannon visit and the OAS session come as Venezuela’s crisis shows no signs of easing. Amid an economic collapse blamed on falling oil prices and Mr. Maduro’s leftist economic policies, opposition parties have used their recently won supermajority in parliament to seek a national vote to oust the president by the end of the year.
Mr. Maduro, who is accused of suppressing dissent, packing the courts and jailing prominent opponents, has sharply criticized the recall drive. Protests in Caracas have been shut down as the Supreme Court has ruled against demonstrators’ right to assemble, while weeks of looting and hunger riots have led to hundreds of arrests and several deaths.
Though Mr. Almagro, a former Uruguayan foreign minister, was pushing to suspend Venezuela from the 34-member regional bloc just a few weeks ago, he has since shifted to support dialogue. The OAS is going ahead with a second meeting Thursday to weigh its next moves.
The emotional highlight of Tuesday’s daylong meeting came when Ms. Rodriguez scolded her fellow representatives in an angry, 30-minute address, one so passionate at times that the translators had difficulty keeping up.
“Venezuela is no more, no less than all the other member states. You have no right to speak about what should or shouldn’t be done,” Ms. Rodriguez said.
Directly addressing the representative from Paraguay, she asked at one point, “How can you criticize Venezuela? It’s a double standard!”
Mr. Zapatero called the first month of mediation efforts “an exploratory phase” — which concerned members who said they want to see results.
“I know this will be a lengthy and difficult process — but time is of the essence, of course,” he said. “We will try to work as quickly as possible with the citizens of Venezuela in mind.”
Mr. Shannon, the undersecretary of state for political affairs and one of Washington’s most experienced diplomats dealing with Latin America, arrived in Caracas Tuesday to meet with senior Venezuelan government and opposition officials. The visit was announced after Secretary of State John F. Kerry met with Ms. Rodriguez on the sidelines of the OAS meeting in the Dominican Republic last week.
Mr. Maduro, a protege of the late anti-U.S. populist leader Hugo Chavez, used the visit to highlight what he said was the uncompromising stance of his political opponents.
“I think it’s very good that we’re taking these steps with the U.S.,” he told reporters. “I only wish the Venezuelan opposition would engage in serious, transparent dialogue in the same way.
• This article was based in part on wire service reports.
• Jessie Fox can be reached at jfox@washingtontimes.com.
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