OAS opens summit with warning against 'silencing' opponents

[maddezmom]

Source: AFP

PANAMA CITY (AFP) - The head of the Organization of American States opened a hemispheric summit late Sunday with a warning against "silencing" political opponents, a week after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez shut down an opposition television station.

"The first duty of a democratic government is broadening democracy," OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza told delegates at the organization's 37th General Assembly.

"By contrast, if a government is silencing opponents, excludes them from the political process and resorts to repression, it embarks on a path toward certain weakening of democratic rule," Insulza added without mentioning Chavez directly.

He urged Latin American nations to promote a climate of tolerance as they confront multiple political, economic and social challenges.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070604/wl_afp/latamoasvenezuela_070604050843

[RogueBandit]

1. laws against violent overthrow?

Aren't there laws in the USA that make advocating for the violent overthrow of our government illegal?

From what I've read about the paper Chavez shut down it had advocated a violent coup at least twice in the past. Am I wrong?

[MrPrax]

2. Not only laws...

but the OAS itself has member rules which require member states to aid another at it's request for assistance during a coup. The fine language of the OAS for many decades hasn't not done much to prevent that form of 'silenced' opposition and threats to democratic rule.

The last member state to have an illegal coup was Haiti. Not much mention of that little island.

[bemildred]

3. Why is he belaboring Colombia like this? nt

[roody]

4. Why is the OAS answering to the US Senate?

Time to write to my ignorant senators.