OAS summit in Santo Domingo closes amidst Venezuelan-Peruvian clashes

bana2166 · #1 (**permalink**) 06-06-06, 09:37 PM

The Organization of American States (OAS) closed Tuesday its annual meeting in Santo Domingo in the midst of cross-accusations between Venezuela and Peru. Additional prevailing issues were Venezuela's nomination to the United Nations (UN) Security Council and a dramatic report on human rights under the government of President Hugo Chávez.

Santiago Cantón, the executive secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), is to bring forward Tuesday at the plenary session an annual report focused on five "troubled" countries: Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia, Ecuador and Haiti.

This paper, regarded as very important by the US delegation, will keep Venezuela's high profile for the third day in a row since the opening of the summit last Sunday. That same day, Social Democrat candidate Alan García was elected the new Peruvian president. García has been continuously at odds with President Chávez, AFP quoted.

Claims of interference both by Lima and Caracas, both behind closed doors and in the open, prevailed in the first two rounds of the summit. In the meantime, US Under Secretary of State Robert Zoellick praised the defeat of Nationalist candidate Ollanta Humala, supported by Chávez.