The Venezuela Reader

  2016: The Supreme Court Ruled That the Actions of the National Assembly were “Null and Void” In the December 6,2015 National Assembly election, the opposition coalition (MUD) won 109 seats. Three additional seats were won by indigenous candidates from the sparsely-populated state of Amazonas (Julio Ygarza, Nirma Guarulla, Romel Guzamana) who sided with the opposition. Together, the three Amazonas delegates and the 109 MUD delegates would make a two thirds super-majority. On December 29, 2015, a losing Amazonas candidate filed a legal challenge with the Supreme Court alleging that the three Amazonas candidates were elected as a result of widespread fraud. On December 30 the Supreme Court issued a temporary injunction against the three and ruled that they should not be sworn in as Delegates until the fraud allegations were investigated [1]. The three Amazonas delegates were sworn in on January 6, 2016 in defiance of the Supreme Court ruling. On January 11 the Supreme Court rule...

  2016: The National Assembly Petitioned the OAS to Declare Venezuela in Violation of the “Democratic Charter” Venezuela was one of the original signatories of the Organization of American States (OAS) Charter which was signed on April 30, 1948. Venezuela officially joined the OAS on December 21, 1951.   In 2016, the OAS had 34 country members- all of the countries in the Western Hemisphere except Cuba. All 34 countries were considered to be democracies. In 2001, the OAS adopted the Democratic Charter which was a Treaty binding on all 34 countries. The Charter declared that: “The Peoples of America have a right to Democracy.” Any member state or the OAS Secretary General could request a meeting of the OAS Permanent Council to determine if a breakdown in democracy had occurred. The OAS General Assembly could then vote to suspend the membership of the country in question. A two-thirds vote in favor was required. On May 19, 2016, the Venezuelan opposition-controlled Nation...