The OAS Democratic Charter guards democracy against bygone threats but not from today's as posed by Chávez and his ilk. That, too, is a political issue. How long will countries such as Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico continue in public denial of the obvious? Democracy is again under siege but from new quarters.
- Marifeli Perez-Stable, Miami Herald
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From the OAS charter:
Chapter 1 Article 1:
The Organization of American States has no powers other than those expressly conferred upon it by this Charter, none of whose provisions authorizes it to intervene in matters that are within the internal jurisdiction of the Member States.
Chapter 1 Article 2:
b) To promote and consolidate representative democracy, with due respect for the principle of nonintervention.
Chapter 2 Article 3:
e) Every State has the right to choose, without external interference, its political, economic, and social system and to organize itself in the way best suited to it, and has the duty to abstain from intervening in the affairs of another State. Subject to the foregoing, the American States shall cooperate fully among themselves, independently of the nature of their political, economic, and social systems.
Chapter 3 Article 19
No State or group of States has the right to intervene, directly or indirectly, for any reason whatever, in the internal or external affairs of any other State. The foregoing principle prohibits not only armed force but also any other form of interference or attempted threat against the personality of the State or against its political, economic, and cultural elements.
What part of "KEEP OUT OF OUR INTERNAL AFFAIRS!" does the OAS not understand?
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