Posted on Tue, Jun. 06, 2006
ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES
Complaints about Chávez dominate OAS
President Hugo Chávez's alleged meddling took center stage at an OAS
meeting, and the Bush administration pushed for a condemnation of Cuba's
Internet censorship.
BY PABLO BACHELET
pbachelet@MiamiHerald.com
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic - An annual Organization of American
States gathering was marked Monday not by gentle diplomacy but by a
sharp exchange between Peru and Venezuela over President Hugo Chávez's
outspoken ways.
Complaints about Chávez meddling in neighbors' affairs erupted into an
unusually public clash at the OAS General Assembly after Peru, with U.S.
backing, forcefully demanded the OAS issue a statement condemning
Venezuela for taking sides in Peru's presidential election.
U.S. officials also used the three-day meeting of foreign ministers from
the 34-nation bloc to urge members to support Guatemala over Venezuela
in the race for a seat on the U.N. Security Council. With an eye on
Cuba, Washington also secured a condemnation of Internet censorship,
U.S. officials said.
Chávez openly backed the losing nationalist Ollanta Humala in Peru's
Sunday election, won by Alan García, a moderate leftist who has promised
to fight what he calls Venezuela's oil ''imperialism.'' Chávez had
called García a ''thief'' and had threatened to break diplomatic
relations if García won.
`DESTABILIZING'
Chavez's meddling in Peru ''had no precedent in this hemisphere,''
Peruvian Foreign Minister Oscar Maúrtua told the General Assembly. ``If
we don't do something about it, this could become a deplorable and
clearly destabilizing tendency in the region.''
Setting aside his prepared speech and reading from notes, Venezuelan
Foreign Minister Alí Rodríguez told delegates that current Peruvian
President Alejandro Toledo had been ''systematically'' attacking Chávez
since 2002 and that Peru's claims were ``distorted.''
''We truly regret that these issues are distracting our attention,''
Rodríguez said.
Robert Zoellick, the deputy secretary of state who is representing
Washington at the gathering, also mentioned the meddling complaints,
saying in his speech that the OAS ``should stand with democratic
governments who point to this danger.''
In a clear reference to Chávez's strongly anti-U.S. policies, Zoellick
said: ``The pied pipers of populism will only lead people backwards
while globalization and the rest of the world looks ahead.''
Diplomats said the General Assembly is considering issuing a resolution
condemning foreign meddling in internal affairs, without naming
countries. Venezuela would accept the text because it would be broad
enough to cover Chávez's repeated claims that Washington is plotting to
topple and even assassinate him. U.S. officials have dismissed the
allegations as lies.
U.S. officials were clearly pleased by the discomfort caused to the
Venezuelans, and made no secret of their relief that García won Sunday's
election.
Zoellick later said, ``the best response is that of the Peruvian people,
which decided to vote for President García and not for Chávez's candidate.''
However, most OAS member countries have responded cautiously to Peru's
complaints, with many diplomats privately saying they don't want the
General Assembly to be overwhelmed by Venezuelan-related issues.
In his speech, Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim made only oblique
references to the Peru-Venezuela confrontation, reminding nations of the
importance of nonintervention but without mentioning Venezuela by name.
''We are not going to comment on the attitudes of either government,''
Amorim said later.
BACKING VENEZUELA
Brazil and Argentina have said they would back Venezuela's bid to join
the Security Council. Amorim said his country had close ties with both
Venezuela and Guatemala, but that Venezuela was a neighbor and
soon-to-be fellow member of the Mercosur trade pact.
Venezuela has openly backed Iran's nuclear program, which is likely to
be taken up by the Security Council.
Zoellick suggested Venezuela's influence made it difficult for some
countries to oppose Chávez, even though they privately share many of the
U.S. views.
''The way I read the picture is that Chávez has overplayed his hand and
people in the region are recognizing it,'' he said. ``But look, he has a
lot of oil money and a lot of influence.''
At Washington's insistence, the final Declaration of Santo Domingo,
which will be issued when the conference ends today, notes that the
Internet, ''without political censorship,'' can develop democracies. To
underscore the point, Zoellick reminded the General Assembly that Cuba
``has the highest controls on the Internet.''
Cuban exile groups were present at the OAS event and for the first time
spoke Saturday at a meeting reserved for nongovernmental organizations
officially registered with the hemispheric bloc.
Sylvia Iriondo, who heads the group Mothers against Repression, asked
the OAS to condemn Cuba more forcefully, while María Lima, with the
Cuban Democratic Directorate, hailed the Internet mention given the
plight of Guillermo Fariñas, a dissident ailing because of a hunger
strike he launched after authorities cut off his Internet.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/special_packages/5min/14749070.htm
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