LIMA, (Reuters) – A meeting of Organization of American States (OAS) members expected later this month could result in a joint position and “change the situation” in crisis-stricken Venezuela, Peru’s Foreign Minister Ricardo Luna said yesterday.
In televised comments, Luna said the planned meeting of 19 foreign ministers of OAS countries, first proposed late last month, would take place the third week of May, likely on the 21st or 22nd, in order to make sure “all the countries can participate.”
“I think the foreign ministers’ meeting that week — we don’t know if it will be the 21st or 22nd — will in some way establish a position and possibly a mechanism that changes the situation,” Luna told journalists, referring to the situation in Venezuela.
The Washington-based OAS floated the idea of a foreign ministers’ meeting last week, prompting Venezuela to announce plans to withdraw from the organization. OAS chief Luis Almagro had earlier threatened to kick Venezuela out of the body if it did not swiftly hold general elections amid an economic crisis.
At the time, Venezuela said its decision to withdraw from the OAS was a response to a U.S.-backed campaign to trample on its sovereignty. The socialist government has grown more diplomatically isolated in Latin America as the region has shifted to the right in recent years.
