RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Former president Evo Morales’ proposal that Bolivia should withdraw from the Organization of American States (OAS) and the warning of President Luis Arce not to attend the Summit of the Americas due to the exclusion of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela from this conclave was described by analysts and diplomats as a blunder and the worst political mistake that the government administration could make. It would mean isolating itself and leaving the Inter-American System.
“We are founding members of the OAS, and withdrawing means withdrawing from the Inter-American System, the country would cease to be part of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and all anti-drug and security bodies, the Inter-American Committee, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, that is, it would isolate itself from the entire Inter-American System,” said former diplomat Jaime Aparicio.
He clarified that only “Chavez and Maduro’s Venezuela have taken this measure, besides Nicaragua, which recently decided to denounce the OAS Charter”.
Morales said that Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua are the most democratic countries in the region and criticized excluding the three regimes from the Summit of the Americas. In this context, he suggested that Bolivia should withdraw from the OAS.
Given this situation, legal expert Ramiro Orias Arredondo pointed out that Arce has to ponder Bolivia’s participation in all international forums, but even more so with an organization that embraces the entire global environment, the closest one.
“Bolivia is a member of the OAS, so in those forums, it must make its voice heard because if the country does not contribute to the strengthening of multilateralism, they are subjected to the conditions of the powers,” said Arredondo.