Not content with its aggressive posture towards Guyana and provoking tensions with Colombia, its western neighbour, the government of the so-called Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has also trained its sights on the new Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro.
In an open letter, dated September 9, Elías Jaua, Venezuela’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs, took Mr Almagro to task for supposedly confrontational positions, such as calling for the OAS to be invited to observe next December’s parliamentary elections; meeting with opposition leader Henrique Capriles; criticising the harsh jail sentences of other prominent opposition leaders; and, the final straw, offering to help find a solution to the destabilising border crisis between Colombia and Venezuela, including visits to Bogotá and the Colombian side of the closed border. With regard to the latter, the Secretary General was on a fact-finding mission to see for himself the effects of Venezuela’s expulsion of hundreds of Colombians, allegedly involved in organised crime and smuggling price-controlled goods from Venezuela into Colombia, and the fearful flight of thousands of others, who had been living illegally in Venezuela.
Mr Jaua’s letter contained a litany of grievances against Mr Almagro, dating back to his previous role as Uruguayan Foreign Minister. Its message was, essentially, that Mr Almagro’s opinions were unwarranted, his interest unwelcome and his actions over time amounted to an unacceptable interference in Venezuela’s internal matters. Full of bombast and insults, it was not a very diplomatic letter; nor did it give due recognition to Mr Almagro’s position as the head of what is supposed to be the hemisphere’s principal forum for political dialogue. Rather, Mr Jaua labelled Mr Almagro as “Washington’s proconsul” and described the OAS as “decrepit.”
Having been elected unopposed to the top post in the OAS earlier this year, with the support of Venezuela and its Alba partners, and having only assumed office on May 26, coincidentally the same day that President David Granger was inaugurated, Mr Almagro evidently has not enjoyed much of a honeymoon period. A largely unknown figure prior to his election, especially in our part of the world, he might not have been expected to court such controversy so soon in his tenure, particularly with regard to Venezuela. Indeed, his predecessor, the vastly more experienced Chilean politician, José Miguel Insulza, had himself been forced by the late President Hugo Chávez to back down when he had voiced concerns over freedom of the press in Venezuela over the closure of Radio Caracas Television in 2007. Mr Almagro was therefore expected to be acquiescent.
Perhaps conscious that his credibility as Secretary General and that of the OAS – whose relevance has been a subject for debate in recent times with the rise of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) – were at stake, Mr Almagro has refused to stay in his corner and has instead come out counterpunching with surprising vigour.
The week before last, in his own open letter, deemed “unusual” in many news reports, Mr Almagro not only stoutly defended himself against Mr Jaua’s accusations, recalling the philosophy of his mentor, former Uruguayan President José Mujica, himself a leftist, renowned for his humility and identification with the poor, but invoked republican and universal principles of equality, equity and justice to justify his actions.
Thus, in a key passage, Mr Almagro gently chides Mr Jaua and, by extension, his chavista comrades: “No revolution, Elías, can leave people with fewer rights than what they used to have, poorer in values and principles, more unequal before the law, more discriminated against depending on where their thinking or their political north is. Every revolution signifies more rights for more people.” In the same tone, he reminds him that “Democracy is the government of majorities, but it also ensures the rights of minorities. There is no democracy without guarantees for minorities.” Indeed, these are essential truths well worth heeding by all governments in the Americas.
There is much more in the letter that could be quoted and it is worth reading in its entirety, not only for the manner in which Mr Almagro stands up to chavista bullying but also for the principles he expounds. It is, moreover, a testament to his political courage and perhaps, just perhaps, a sign that he has a plan for the OAS to play its rightful role as the guarantor of peace, democracy and fundamental human rights in the hemisphere.
