Need for Venezuelan oil undercuts OAS members’ push to monitor elections

One by one Caribbean and Central American diplomats on Thursday took the floor at the Organization of American States to praise Venezuela for its subsidized oil export program. The effusive remarks demonstrated the challenge the OAS faces as it seeks to build pressure on Venezuela to open up its elections next month to international monitors. A week after the OAS secretary general blasted Venezuelan authorities for failing to ensure fair elections in December, the president of another OAS body, the permanent council, who happens to be the Venezuelan ambassador, invited a colleague to speak about Petrocaribe, the Venezuelan energy program that several OAS members depend on. More…