OAS meeting hears Venezuelan protest leader in camera

PANAMA’S move to get the Organization of American States (OAS)to listen to a Venezuelan protest leader on Friday , March 21 was dimmed by the decision to hold the meeting behind closed doors.

The vote about whether to hold the session in the open or to close it was evenly divided 11-11 with one abstention, Barbados.

Votes against closing the session were cast by Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Canada.
The motion to close the session was made by Nicaragua, which had earlier branded Panama a tool of the United States.
`Maria Corina Machado, an opposition deputy and leader of anti-government protests in Venezuela said she was not concerned about the decision, saying: "The voice of Venezuelans is going to beheard today at the OAS and around the world."
She said that the members of the OAS have nothing to fear from her remarks, saying it is "an organization, as its name implies, not of governments or presidents, but of states, and I am a representative of people who are being denied their voice”