Civil society organizations including the Latin American and Caribbean Network for Democracy (REDLAD), Latin America Youth Network for Democracy (Juventud LAC), Freedom House, and Participacion de la Sociedad Civil en la Cumbra de las Americas (PASCA) attended the Organization of American States (OAS) General Assembly this week in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Ahead of the Assembly, civil society representatives met with General Secretary Almagro to discuss the political and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela and presented a letter on behalf of dozens of organizations thanking him for his public statements invoking the Inter-American Democratic Charter to address the crisis and urging him to continue to push the Permanent Council to convene on this topic.

 

On June 14th, Juventud LAC organized several panels on the topic of the Charter that analyzed the applicability of the document from a youth perspective, discussed possible methods of implementation, and drew up recommendations on its application that will be submitted to the OAS member states. Among the key speakers who spoke about the current crisis in Venezuela was Mitzy Ledezma, wife of the former Mayor of Caracas Antonio Ledezma. Mr. Ledezma has been imprisoned since December 2015 under politically motivated charges.