Almagro Against Venezuela Dialogue, in Favor of Use of Force

Secretary-General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, has shown his cards once again on Tuesday, coming out against the proposed dialogue between Venezuela’s government and the country's opposition, in an interview with Infobae.

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“The last step of the responsibility to protect is the use of force...an incremental process in which obviously results have to come out,” said Almagro, not discarding a military intervention, while dismissing “Norway's attempt to the issue as a wrong way.”

On May 17, President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro announced that a new process has begun to initiate talks with the country's opposition, aided by mediation efforts from Norwegian representatives. Yet for warmongering Almagro, the situation in Venezuela will only be resolved by ousting democratically elected Maduro. 

This embrace for military intervention aimed at overthrowing the democratically elected governments is not new for Almagro. Back in 2018, he said that "we should not rule out any option," regarding Venezuela, and also calling for this “option” in Nicaragua. 

A rather unsurprising approach from someone who referred to the United States (U.S.) invasion of Panama (1989-90) as a bid to “restore democracy” and protect “human rights,” coincidently the same terms now used by the U.S. and right-wing opposition to "justify" military intervention in Venezuela.  

As history proved the Panama invasion, which came after failed coup attempts and economic sanctions in the wake of Manuel Noriega falling out of Washington’s favor, is widely interpreted as a part of U.S. efforts to maintain a supportive government in Panama and U.S. domination in the region. 

A few months after in July 1990, a willing new president, Guillermo Endara, signed the Grant Treaty, allotting for millions of dollars in "aid" in exchange for harsh liberalization and privatization overseen by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

According to the book “The Truth About the Invasion," in a single night, “U.S. troops killed 100 times more Panamanians than in over 21 years of military rule. In a single week, there were 100 times more political prisoners than there were during the five years of the Noriega regime.” But for Almagro, as he has said, this is justified in a convenient  “historical perspective.”