CARACAS—President Nicolas Maduro has called for a demonstration Wednesday against the Organization of American States over what he labels its meddling in Venezuela’s political crisis.
As part of an escalating war of words, Maduro Tuesday told the head of the Washington-based organization to “shove it.”
The verbal barrage came after OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro called for an urgent meeting on the Venezuelan crisis, warning democracy was at risk in the country.
Oil-rich Venezuela’s economy is in very dire straits and the opposition wants to remove the president through a referendum. There are increasing signs of social unrest, such as looting, with the shortages of most basic consumer goods such as soap and toilet paper.
In a 132-page letter to the president of the OAS Permanent Council, Almagro requested a meeting of the organization’s 34 member states from June 10 to 20.
“The institutional crisis in Venezuela demands immediate changes in the actions of the executive branch,” Almagro wrote, adding that the socialist nation was “at risk of falling immediately into a situation of illegitimacy.”
Venezuela’s opposition-controlled legislature had requested that Almagro invoke the Inter-American Democratic Charter—which regulates government behavior in members states—to assess whether the Maduro government violated standards.
“Mr Almagro, you can take your Democratic Charter… put it in a skinny little tube and shove it wherever it fits,” Maduro fired back at a rally of thousands of his supporters in Caracas.
“Venezuela must be respected. No one is going to apply any charter to Venezuela. I call for a national rebellion in the face of these international threats.”
Maduro also vowed to sue the congressional leadership for “treason” and “usurping” executive duties.
Later Tuesday, appearing on TV, Maduro said: “Seeking to intervene in Venezuela is a crime. I call for mobilization against interventionism.”
He said he wanted “a big anti-imperialist and anti-Almagro march” by young Venezuelans who follow Maduro’s socialist agenda.
The leftist leader accuses the United States and the OAS of conspiring against his government at the behest of the “fascist Venezuelan right,” which he blames for the severe shortages of food and medicine gripping the recession-racked country.
