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Maduro condemns OAS chief for calling meeting against Venezuela

Xinhua, June 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro denounced on Wednesday the head of the Organization of American States (OAS) for calling for a meeting against Venezuela.

Maduro criticised the move of OAS Secretary-General Luis Almagro as "an effort to intervene on Venezuela from outside...and to allow a U.S. intervention."

Earlier this week, Almagro asked the OAS permanent council to hold a meeting on Venezuela in mid-June to start a process that could result in the country being suspended from the OAS. Almagro and the United States accused Maduro as breaching democratic norms.

The South American nation of 30 million people is suffering

a deep recession, high inflation and increasing violent crimes. The opposition is seeking a referendum to recall Maduro.

"Venezuela denounces the attempt, outside of his functions, by Luis Almagro...to act contrary to the established principles of this organization (OAS)," the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said in a press release.

Economic analyst Tony Boza from the University of Zulia echoed the Venezuelan government.

"The head of the Organization of American States (OAS) is trying to meet the "imperial interests" of the United States and not "acting out of his own will" when he decided to call for the meeting against Venezuela, Boza said.

Almagro "is not acting of his own will...but acting against Venezuela at the behest of the U.S. State Department and President Barack Obama," Boza said in an interview with Xinhua.

OAS spokesman Gonzalo Espariz said the mid-June meeting could only be averted if Almagro withdrew his call for it. An article of the body's charter allows the OAS general assembly "to suspend a member" when a breakdown of the democratic order has been found and diplomatic steps have failed, if two-thirds of members vote in favor.

Boza disputes the validity of Almagro's call for the meeting. "Venezuela does not have a humanitarian crisis. It is suffering propaganda about its economy and its daily life, where situations are magnified in order to create subjective conditions," he explained. Endi