May 27, 2002
Ambassador
Ambassador, Permananet Representative
Country - Permanent Mission to the OAS
Adress
Adress
Washington, D.C. Zip Code
Dear Ambassador:
On behalf of the Coordinadora Internacional Venezolana, we would like to take this opportunity to send you greetings, and place our good offices at your disposal.
We are a group of Venezuelans in the greater Washington D.C. area representing various non-governmental organizations of Organized Civil Society in Venezuela with the principal objective of defending the democratic system and Rule of Law of our country.
Because of our concern about the continual deterioration of democratic institutions and the Rule of Law in our country, on May 17th, we visited with Ambassador Margarita Escobar, President of the Permanent Council, and submitted the attached letter to her for the consideration of the Permanent Council. Joining us was the Venezuelan Ambassador to the OAS, Jorge Valero.
The letter provides an analysis of how the present Government of Venezuela is violating the Inter-American Democratic Charter. One of the three petitions is a request that a team of the Permanent Council be sent to Venezuela to comply the necessary report on the political situation in Venezuela for the General Assembly meeting in Barbados on June 2-4 as instructed by the Extraordinary General Assembly in its resolution of April 18, 2002.
We consider that the General Assembly should not limit itself only to the report that the Venezuelan Government is preparing concerning the state of human rights and democratic institutions, as mentioned in the Venezuelan press about a visit by Ambassador Valero with the President of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice a few days after our visit with Ambassadors Escobar and Valero.
We believe our letter provides a summary of the state of affairs in Venezuela today, as reaffirmed by the visit of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights during their visit to Venezuela ending May 10, 2002.
At the General Assembly meeting in Barbados, we ask your support to help the Venezuelan people by taking concrete measures to ensure that the erosion of democratic institutions and the Rule of Law in our country is reversed immediately based on what is established in the Inter-American Democratic Charter, which may require finding Venezuela in violation of the Democratic Charter and the need to apply Articles 18 and 19 of the said Charter.
The people of Venezuela will be looking for your country’s leadership to help us reverse the deterioration of Rule of Law our democratic system is presently experiencing.
Sincerely,
Coordinadora Internacional Venezolana