Latin America Remains Silent on Venezuela as US Airs Rights Concerns Joshua Goodman and Peter Orsi - The Associated Press
go to original April 8, 2015

UNASUR leaders pose for a group photo at the 2014 inauguration of the new UNASUR headquarters building in Quito, Ecuador. From left to right are Suriname's President Desi Bouterse, Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez, Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos, UNASUR General Secretary and former Colombian President Ernesto Samper, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, and Bolivia's President Evo Morales. The South American regional bloc did attempt to mediate between the Venezuelan government and the opposition last year. But that effort fell through, and observers see those leaders as loath to try again. (AP/Dolores Ochoa)

From Mexico to Brazil, leaders in Latin America have largely kept silent amid charges of human rights abuses in Venezuela and are unlikely to speak out against their neighbor at this week's Summit of the Americas.

Many Latin American heads of state gathering in Panama City are bound to oil-rich Venezuela by business dealings if not ideology, and are put off by recent U.S. sanctions against some of the country's officials. Others do not want to be seen as doing Washington's bidding, particularly as they face protests and plunging approval ratings at home.

"Venezuela has successfully played the history of U.S. imperialism and U.S. heavy-handedness cards, in a way that has made people want to back away from public criticism," said Geoff Thale, an analyst at the Washington Office on Latin America.

The Obama administration last month froze the U.S. assets and revoked visas for seven senior officials accused of human rights violations related to protests last year against President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government. The unrest is blamed for more than 40 deaths and triggered a crackdown on criticism that led to the jailing of several opposition leaders, including February's surprise arrest of Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma.

Human Rights Watch and other advocacy groups issued a statement on Tuesday asking the countries attending the summit to call Maduro's administration to task for its alleged harassment of rights defenders.

But rather than highlight alleged abuses, the U.S. sanctions have drawn widespread condemnation in Latin America, denying Obama a hoped-for diplomatic victory lap at the summit for his decision to restore ties with Cold War nemesis Cuba.

Read the rest at QCTimes.com

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