Responding with the Democratic Charter.

• Author: Conaway, Janelle
• Position: OAS

THE OAS REACTED QUICKLY to the political crisis that briefly unseated Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez in April. Applying the new Inter-American Democratic Charter for the first time, the member states condemned the "alteration of the constitutional order" in Venezuela, dispatched the Secretary General on an urgent fact-finding mission to Caracas, and convened a special session of the OAS General Assembly in Washington to hear his report.

The Venezuelan crisis began unfolding on April 11, with massive street demonstrations in Caracas. President Chavez left Miraflores Palace in military custody on April 12 and was reported--falsely, he said later--to have resigned. Businessman Pedro Carmona became the head of a self-proclaimed provisional government, which collapsed two days later in the face of growing popular protest and weakening military support.

During this tumultuous interim period, Latin American foreign ministers meeting in Costa Rica called for the OAS Permanent Council and the Secretary General to assess the situation, as specified under the Inter-American Democratic Charter. The Permanent Council held an urgent session on Saturday, April 13, to condemn the constitutional interruption and the violence that resulted in deaths and injuries. Expressing its solidarity with the Venezuelan people, it called for democracy to be fully restored under the terms of the Democratic Charter.

By early Sunday morning, Chavez had returned to Miraflores Palace. The OAS mission, which arrived in Caracas the following day, met with Chavez and officials from all branches of government; members of opposition parties; leaders of the Catholic Church; and representatives of labor unions, the media, civil society groups, and others who came to offer reports on the recent incidents. Ambassador Margarita Escobar of El Salvador, who then chaired the Permanent Council, and Ambassador Lisa Shoman of Belize, representing the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), accompanied Gaviria on the April 15-17 mission.

In his report to the General Assembly (available at www.oas.org) on April 18, Gaviria acknowledged President Chavez's calls for reflection, unity, and dialogue following the crisis, but expressed concern about the "excessive polarization" that remained in Venezuelan society.

"This excessive polarization has shades of intolerance that stand in the way of democratic dialogue and the quest for agreements that would provide a degree of understanding so as to maintain...