Senators Condemn Brazil and Colombia for OAS Failing to Put Pressure on Venezuela

“Clearly, standing on the sidelines and abstaining against such a gross theft of an election, that’s no position, I think, any self-respecting nation can be in for a long time,” Sen. Tim Kaine said.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro declared himself the winner even as countries across the world denounce his regime for electoral fraud. Matias Delacroix/AP

Democratic and Republican senators condemned members of the Organization of American States for failing to demand vote transparency in the elections in Venezuela, where President Nicolás Maduro declared himself the winner even as countries across the world continue to denounce the regime for electoral fraud.

The OAS met in a closed-door meeting on Wednesday to approve a resolution urging the Maduro regime to release full and detailed vote tallies — which the Venezuelan government is required to do under the country’s constitution — as pro-democracy monitoring groups, including The Carter Center, say evidence shows the election was stolen.

However, the OAS failed to meet the necessary threshold for the resolution after several countries, including Colombia and Brazil, abstained from voting on it. The two countries neighbor Venezuela and are run by leftist governments that the U.S. and other international powers see as crucial in exerting pressure on Maduro.