Venezuela’s top U.S. diplomat defends his government | McClatchy Washington Bureau

Venezuela’s top diplomat in the United States defended his embattled government against what he called a “distorted” campaign designed to incite political intervention.

Ambassador Bernardo Alvarez saved his strongest words for Luis Almagro, the head of the Organization of American States, whom Alvarez accused of “illegally” trying to invoke the hemispheric organization’s Democratic Charter. Such a move would essentially suspend the continent’s biggest oil producer from the OAS.

“This has been very irresponsible behavior,” Alvarez said Thursday, after speaking publicly about the situation in Venezuela at the Inter-American Dialogue think tank. “And you can imagine how we feel after he insults our president.”

Almagro is expected to release a report next week outlining the political and humanitarian situation in Venezuela, part of an ongoing investigation into whether to present to the OAS permanent council a case for invoking the Democratic Charter.

Venezulan President Nicolás Maduro faces tremendous pressure as the country continues to suffer from food and medicine shortages. The government has also instituted mandatory blackouts to save energy.

Alvarez, who is the country’s representative at the OAS, blasted Almagro, former Uruguay foreign minister, for working unilaterally without the support of member states and taking a political position against Venezuela.

Last week, Almagro questioned whether Maduro was turning into a “petty dictator” and pressed the socialist president to allow Venezuelan voters to decide via a recall referendum whether he should finish his term, set to expire in 2019.

“When politics are polarized, the decision must go back to the people,” Almagro wrote in a scathing May 18 letter. “That is what the Constitution says. To deny the people that vote, to deny them the possibility of deciding, would make you just another petty dictator, like so many this hemisphere has had.”

Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, which has raised concerns about the crisis in Venezuela, complimented Almagro’s passion and concern for the Venezuelan people. But Shifter questioned Almagro’s strategy of getting into a “war of words” with the Venezuelan president and not working more through the member states.

“There is a risk for him weighing in on issues from Venezuela to Brazil to Peru without really consulting member states,” Shifter said. “It’s a not a sense of criticism, but puzzlement in the way he’s behaving.”

Unlike his president and other Venezuelan leaders who have accused the United States of trying to overthrow the Maduro administration, Alvarez avoided attacking the United States. He was largely critical of the media for its extensive coverage of the crisis.

Alvarez also acknowledged the challenges his government faces, which he attributed to a 70 percent drop in income largely due to falling oil prices. Imports have fallen 60 percent in the last four years. But he said it doesn’t give Almagro or any leader the right to launch a disruptive campaign of international interference.

“We do recognize this situation,” Alvarez said. “There is suffering. There are problems. We’re trying. We’re going to move ahead. But we don’t believe that the way to address this is as a humanitarian crisis, because, according to us, it’s linked to a campaign of asking for political intervention.”