With its typically retrograde, myopic, Inside-the-Beltway perspective on Latin America, The Washington Post lobbed a grenade a couple weeks ago when it strenuously objected to a second six-year term for José Miguel Insulza as secretary general of the Organization of American States, implying that the U.S. should “press for change,” whatever that means.
Others much smarter and better-looking than myself have since weighed in to challenge the piece’s logic. Increasingly, it’s looking to be a moot point. So far, Costa Rica, Colombia, Chile, Brazil, Guatemala, and probably a few countries I’ve missed have already come out in support of Insulza’s reelection next month, and anyway, he’s thus far running unopposed.
That doesn’t change how lots of Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, and perhaps Bolivians on the wrong end of certain political winds feel about an Insulza-led OAS:
I think they have a legitimate complaint. Democracy isn’t only about the vote. It’s also about having autonomous ombudsmen, due process, freedom of expression, and an independent judiciary, all of which have been weakened or eliminated in many of the ALBA countries. Meantime, the OAS has been busy carefully avoiding eye contact.
But OAS critics are wrong when they assume ideology is to blame. As far as I’ve seen, the OAS is an equal-opportunity ignorer of outrageousness when the outrageousness is perpetrated by larger countries like Mexico, Venezuela, and Colombia. This is just politics, folks, and it’s the way international organizations will always deal with their most powerful members.
That’s definitely not desirable, but it certainly won’t change if you replace the executive secretary.
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[...] report is fairly unprecedented and should take the wind out of the sails of those who have argued that the OAS has been too soft on Venezuela. The question now is, will Venezuela stay in the OAS? [...]