Panama, NU Online
The Organization of American States issued a call to respect media freedom but ignored a U.S. request to send officials to Venezuela to investigate the leftist government’s closure of an opposition television station.
A final declaration Tuesday from the two-day OAS meeting in Panama City included a resolution presented by Venezuela itself saying “member states should respect and guarantee the freedom of expression in accordance with international human rights mechanisms.”<>
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who briefly appeared at the meeting Monday, called for an investigation into President Hugo Chavez’s move to not renew the broadcast license of Radio Caracas Television, or RCTV.
Rice urged the OAS to send its secretary-general, Jose Miguel Insulza, to Venezuela to look into the refusal to renew RCTV’s license and report on his findings.
Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro responded the OAS should investigate rights violations at the U.S. prison on Guantanamo and on the U.S.-Mexico border.
“We are being very clear,” Maduro said Tuesday at the end of the meetings. “If the OAS is going to name a commission, it first must go to the prisons of Guantanamo ... or to the Mexican border, if it really wants to review human rights and how they hunt down” migrants.
The U.S.-Venezuela rift forced the rest of the nations attending the OAS gathering to choose between the two adversaries, balancing the OAS principle of not intervening in member states with their desire to defend a free press and avoid offending the United States.
Many in Latin America have criticized Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s refusal to renew the station’s license, prompting protests throughout the region.
The debate overshadowed the meeting’s original planned focus on alternative fuels.
While the ministers agreed that the world should try to promote the use of sustainable energy, they didn’t see eye-to-eye on how to achieve that goal. (ap/dar)
The Organization of American States issued a call to respect media freedom but ignored a U.S. request to send officials to Venezuela to investigate the leftist government’s closure of an opposition television station.
A final declaration Tuesday from the two-day OAS meeting in Panama City included a resolution presented by Venezuela itself saying “member states should respect and guarantee the freedom of expression in accordance with international human rights mechanisms.”<>
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who briefly appeared at the meeting Monday, called for an investigation into President Hugo Chavez’s move to not renew the broadcast license of Radio Caracas Television, or RCTV.
Rice urged the OAS to send its secretary-general, Jose Miguel Insulza, to Venezuela to look into the refusal to renew RCTV’s license and report on his findings.
Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro responded the OAS should investigate rights violations at the U.S. prison on Guantanamo and on the U.S.-Mexico border.
“We are being very clear,” Maduro said Tuesday at the end of the meetings. “If the OAS is going to name a commission, it first must go to the prisons of Guantanamo ... or to the Mexican border, if it really wants to review human rights and how they hunt down” migrants.
The U.S.-Venezuela rift forced the rest of the nations attending the OAS gathering to choose between the two adversaries, balancing the OAS principle of not intervening in member states with their desire to defend a free press and avoid offending the United States.
Many in Latin America have criticized Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s refusal to renew the station’s license, prompting protests throughout the region.
The debate overshadowed the meeting’s original planned focus on alternative fuels.
While the ministers agreed that the world should try to promote the use of sustainable energy, they didn’t see eye-to-eye on how to achieve that goal. (ap/dar)
