Here’s the million-dollar question about the failure at this week’s Organization of American States’ meeting to strongly condemn Venezuela’s autocratic regime: How could a few tiny Caribbean islands defeat a resolution that was backed by the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and 15 other major countries in the region?
It sounds ridiculous, but that’s exactly what happened at a June 19 special meeting of the region’s foreign ministers in Cancún, Mexico, to discuss the break of democratic rule in Venezuela.
At the meeting, 20 countries voted to support a strong resolution that would have demanded Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro stop his plan to convene a constituent assembly to draft a Cuban-styled constitution. It also would have asked Maduro to respect the rights of the opposition-majority National Assembly, and to allow a “group of friendly countries” to