Dominica voted against a US-backed resolution on Venezuela at an OAS General Assembly meeting last week

​Dominica and two other among CARICOM countries voted against a US-backed resolution on Venezuela, at last week’s Organization of American States (OAS) General Assembly meeting in Mexico. That resolution included a proposal for a ‘group of friends’ to mediate the political crisis that has engulfed Venezuela. The resolution called for President Nicolas Maduro to “reconsider” a plan for an assembly to rewrite the Venezuelan constitution.
 
Dominica, St Kitts & Nevis, and St Vincent & the Grenadines voted against the resolution. Barbados, Bahamas, Belize, Guyana & St Lucia supported it. Antigua & Barbuda, Grenada, Haiti, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago abstained. The resolution failed since it fell three votes short of the 23 needed to be passed.
 
Venezuela’s Allies said the resolution was ‘interventionist’. Calls for unity on the Venezuela issue went unheeded, and CARICOM Members votes show how the issue has divided the region. Jamaica’s Foreign Minister, Kamina Johnson Smith, said “despite significant efforts to coordinate positions”, CARICOM’s votes were divided. Maduro described the failed resolution as a “triumph” for Venezuela.
 
Meantime, in a video message posted on Twitter on Saturday, OAS President Luis Almagro said, “I will resign from the OAS the day that free, fair and transparent national elections are held in Venezuela without impediments. I offer my position in exchange for freedom in Venezuela.” His offer comes with demands, including: Release of political prisoners and a guarantee of Supreme Court independence.
 
Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit is a staunch ally of Venezuela, and sided with that South American country throughout its problems with the OAS. He said the OAS has lost its way, and Almagro should be fired. He added that the OAS should not interfere with Venezuela’s domestic affairs.
 
This was echoed by Foreign Affairs Minister Francine Baron, who represented Dominica at the OAS General Assembly meeting. She said the OAS must be based on a principle of non-interference & respect for the sovereignty of member states.
However, Almagro has branded Maduro as a ‘dictator’ for stifling the Venezuelan opposition. Venezuela says it is in the process of withdrawing from the OAS, but that process will take about two years.