Is OAS the Problem in Latin America?

Honduras, where an ally of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez triggered a military response after violating the law in his attempt to stay in power, reminds us that today’s threat to liberal democracy in Latin America comes from authoritarian populists who abuse the legitimacy of the ballot box. It also suggests that the Organization of American States OAS, the hemispheric body supposed to uphold the rule of law, is part of the problem.

For years, the OAS has been ignoring the plight of Venezuelans, Bolivians, Ecuadorians, and Nicaraguans, to mention four countries where so-called “21st-century socialism” is undoing republican checks and balances and plundering private property.

Partly because the culprits are themselves members of the hemispheric body and other governments fear the domestic consequences of confronting this peril, the OAS has looked the other way.