As Venezuela Crumbles, Why Did the OAS Fail to Act for So Long?

As Venezuela Crumbles, Why Did the OAS Fail to Act for So Long?
Clashes between students and Bolivarian National Police near the Central University, Caracas, Venezuela, June 9, 2016 (AP photo by Fernando Llano).

Next week, on June 23, the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) will meet to discuss Venezuela, a country in the throes of an economic, political and humanitarian crisis. It now appears that it’s only a matter of time before Venezuela—virtually institution-less, politically polarized, facing chronic food and medical shortages, and with its government and military wracked by corruption—implodes and becomes a failed state.

How did this happen? How did a country with abundant natural resources, a nominally democratic government and basic human rights, one that is a member of a multilateral system with numerous safeguards to protect democracy, fall so far?

Perhaps a more pointed question is, How and why did an entire region of democratically elected governments that make up the OAS, an organization with at least a rhetorical commitment to defend democracy, just stand by and watch the downward spiral, fully aware of where it was heading?

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