OAS General Assembly adopts final statement
The Organization of AmericanStates (OAS) closed its three-day General Assembly meetings here in the southern US State of Florida late Tuesday by issuing a final statement that omitted the US proposal to establish a mechanism to monitor threats to democracies in the region.

Instead, the final statement asked newly-elected OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza to draw up proposals to address situations that can compromise the "democratic political process or the rule of law" in the hemisphere.

However, any proposals by the OAS chief must abide by the OAS charter which enshrines the principle of nonintervention and the right to self determination, the statement said.

The US proposal, put forward by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, called on the OAS to develop a way to assess democratic progress in the region, so it can anticipate "crises that might undermine democracy."

The proposal was immediately opposed by Venezuela as Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez said the OAS was "not authorized to make evaluations on the state of democracy in the different countries."

Rice claimed that the proposal was to prevent the democracies in the region from slipping into authoritarian rule, but Venezuela said the proposal was aimed at meddling into the domestic affairs of other countries.

In addition to Venezuela, Brazil and Chile also stressed that any moves to strengthen democracy should not be intrusive.

The countries in the region have been skeptical of the free trade and democracy initiatives of the US President George W. Bush's administration as the US-prescribed policies of free trade and fiscal discipline have done little for the one-in-four Latin Americans living in poverty.

Moreover, the countries in the hemisphere have been reluctant to join the United States in toughening stance against Venezuela and Cuba.