OAS ON A “REGIME CHANGE” MISSION?

WAS THE OAS ON A “REGIME CHANGE” MISSION?

In its report on Electoral Reform in Dominica, the Commonwealth/CARICOM/OAS Joint Mission made a recommendation for house-to-house verification/confirmation of electors, as a means of realizing a “cleansing” of the electors list - which all stakeholders admit is “bloated”.

However, both the Attorney General and Senior Counsel Anthony Astaphan reacted with amazement, that not only was no reference made in the report to the Bill that had been introduced in the Dominica House of Assembly to amend existing legislation that would give effect to a clinical cleansing of the electors list; but that the procedure recommended in the Mission’s report would by and large maintain the status quo while opening  a Pandora’s Box of administrative problems on polling day and thereafter!

Reflecting on the composition of the Mission and the intense controversy generated by the conduct of the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), in the wake of  Juan Guaido proclaiming himself Interim President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and the immediate recognition of him as such by the President of the United States of America, followed by theSecretary General of the OAS; I was prepared to surmise that the baffling recommendation appearing in the Mission’s report could well have been part of a “regime change” plot engineered by the controversial OAS diplomat.

And as I reflected further on the conduct of our own leader of the Opposition and his defacto “foreign relations adviser”, former UN Ambassador Crispin Gregoire on the matter of Dominica’s association with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, I felt convinced that I was thinking in the right direction! We can recall that during Mr. Linton’s jaunt to Denver, Colorado he delivered an address at a function hosted by the Lions Club in which he spoke of Dominica associating “with the likes of Venezuela”! Then on February 7th 2019, mere days after CARIOM had complained about the action of the OAS Secretary General in the Gauido matter, Mr. Gregoire acting no doubt on behalf of the United Workers Party, was entertained by the OAS Secretary General.  At that meeting, Gregoire expressed his party’s concern “that the elections in Dominica are not free and fair”, and requested “OAS official assistance to ensure a level playing field in the country”.

Interestingly, Pastor Randy Rodney in one of his recent rants was bold enough to threaten civil disobedience and violence and to instruct the Prime Minister on how to proceed on the electoral reform agenda as recommended by the Commonwealth/CARICOM/OAS Joint Mission. His reference to the use of missiles “harder than stone”- (bullets?) and the crisis in Venezuela and upheavals in other countries in that connection, certainly tell a huge story! 

 CARICOM as a regional organization has condemned the interventionist posture of the USA and its allies in their desire to effect regime change in Venezuela; and continues to advocate dialogue and mediation as the appropriate approach to resolve the crisis in that country. In spite of crippling sanctions imposed by the US against that country, the Venezuelan people have continued to resist the mounting pressures piled upon them; and Maduro continues to be recognized as the legitimate leader of Venezuela by the United Nations. As a matter of fact, Venezuela only last week was elected to the UN Human Rights Council by the UN General Assembly.

However cracks have emerged within CARICOM as some member states have abandoned principle,  succumbing to the pressures of “economic carrots” dangled before them by the “giants” (some may say “puppet masters”) in the hemisphere. Haiti (once referred to as a “S….. hole country” by President Trump), Bahamas, Jamaica and St. Lucia eventually joined the ranks of countries either recognizing Guaido as interim President of Venezuela or denouncing Maduro, after having been hosted by the US President at his Florida Resort. But to their credit, Dominica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines have remained steadfast in their commitment to the ideals of non-intervention and non-interference in the internal affairs of Venezuela, enunciated in an earlier CARICOM statement. 

And it appears that the price which Dominica has to pay is to be in the sights of those “agents” that are on a mission to effect “regime change” through the creation of circumstances that would invariably lead to social and economic destabilization – as has happened in several countries around the world. Revisit Pastor Rodney’s rant; browse through the hate spewed in the pages of DNO, Facebook chats and faceless blogs; and listen to the calls for “boots on the ground” and for revolution; and reflect on why no mention would have been made of the well documented genuine efforts by the Government towards the cleansing of the electoral lists and the deliberate roadblocks placed in their way by Pastor Rodney’s political allies.

In the OAS  Secretary General’s response to a complaint submitted by the Chairman of CARICOM about a tweet that appeared on his account after meeting Crispin Gregoire, the OAS diplomat stated: “Dominica is the country with the lowest rate of implementation(below 10%) of the OAS Electoral Observation Missions. Democracy is a way of life and an ongoing process of continuous improvement and the recommendations of the Organization (OAS) aim to guarantee voters the best possible  electoral process {my emphasis}. When they are not followed and not implemented, this does not help member states to increase the level of trust from the opposition and the international community in their electoral processes”. Notice that Mr. Luis Almagro Lemes, Secretary General of the OAS places no onus on the opposition to be responsible and to cooperate with the Government as it sought to effect the very reforms that would have guaranteed voters “the best possible electoral process”. And it seems obvious that he was eager  to swallow, hook , line and sinker, Crispin Gregoire’s  Anancy Stories about elections in Dominica not being free and fair – even in the face of earlier observer missions’ stating the contrary!

Earlier this week, I read two reports about the elections held in Bolivia. In the first titled, “Bolivia: Morales Officially Wins Presidency”, the Election Observation Mission of the OAS was said “to have slandered Morales (a Socialist) and had raised serious doubts about the official count and impartiality of the election” . The report continued:  “the OAS team on Thursday recommended that Bolivia convene a second round after an unexpected interruption of vote counting and a sudden change in trend in favour of Morales which led to protests … by the opposition”. The OAS mission was accused of trying to instigate a coup d’etat. Of significance is that Bolivia is one of Venezuela’s firm allies in the region. 

The second report is titled: “Mexico Condemns OAS Interference in Bolivia’s Elections”, Mexico’s representative at the OAS had this to say about the OAS mission conduct in Bolivia’s election: ”No one should interfere in the elections of a country, even less say when it is not yet concluded. Your job should be limited to technical advice and not try to make binding decisions”. Mexico expressed concerns that the OAS was abandoning its commitment to neutrality. The representative continued: “We demand respect for sovereign processes and condemn the fallacious claims of some member states of this organization (OAS) … that intend to become judges and monitors of democracy in other countries of the region. We call for the sovereignty of the Plurinational State of Bolivia to be respected.” The report continues that “the OAS has been leading the charge in criticizing leftist governments in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.

The recommendation made by the Joint Mission for cleansing of the electoral list is a sure recipe for disaster! And could it be that this is why the well-researched procedure proposed by the Government and endorsement by a respected Commonwealth consultant, was not considered by what appears to have been an OAS-dominated mission.  What a frightening thought!

Rupert Sorhaindo             

26 October, 2019