Latin American states condemn U.S. seizure of Maduro at OAS emergency meeting

The United States was sharply criticized on Tuesday at an emergency Organization of American States meeting in Washington after U.S. forces seized Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and flew him to New York to face gun and drug charges, delegates said. Several countries, including Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, strongly condemned the U.S.

military action. Mexico’s representative, Alejandro Encinas Rodríguez, said, “The history of Latin America is clear and resolute: intervention has never brought lasting stability or well-being, and only peoples themselves can build their own future, decide their path forward, exercise sovereignty over their natural resources.” Some nations urged a peaceful, democratic transition, while a few governments close to the Trump administration, such as El Salvador, backed the arrest; the Salvadoran ambassador, Wendy Acevedo Castillo, called the capture “the expected consequence after over 10 years of an authoritarian regime that has destroyed democracy, violated human rights and turned the government into a tool for corruption.” The U.S.

representative was briefly interrupted by a protester shouting “hands off Venezuela” before resuming comments. O.A.S.

Key Topics

World, Nicolás Maduro, Oas, Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia