Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, United States of America, and Uruguay
We, Member States of the Organization of American States (OAS), reaffirm our commitment to the Charter of the Organization of American States and the Inter-American Democratic Charter, which proclaims that “the peoples of the Americas have a right to democracy, and their governments have an obligation to promote and defend it,” and our commitment with the respect of the principle of noninterference, universal principles and values of democracy, human rights, and freedom of speech and association;
We reaffirm the Declaration of the Permanent Council of the OAS (CP/DEC 63 2076/16) of June 1, 2016, by which we express our fraternal offer to the Sister Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to identify, by common accord, a course of action that that will assist the search for solutions to the situation through open and inclusive dialogue among the Government, other constitutional authorities and all political and social players of that nation to preserve peace and security in Venezuela, with full respect for their sovereignty;
Support a timely, national, inclusive, and effective political dialogue to address the immediate needs of the Venezuelan people in accordance with their Constitution and ensuring full respect for human rights and the consolidation of representative democracy;
Express our support for the efforts made by former Presidents Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of Spain, Leonel Fernandez of the Dominican Republic, and Martin Torrijos of Panama and the desire that this process will arrive at positive results in a reasonable time frame;
Encourage respect for the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela that enshrines, inter alia, the separation of powers, respect for the rule of law and democratic institutions and express our support for the fair and timely implementation of constitutional mechanisms; and
Condemn violence regardless of its origin and call on the responsible authorities to guarantee due process and human rights, including the right to peaceful assembly and free expression of ideas.
We welcome the participation of former presidents Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of Spain, Martin Torrijos of Panama and Leonel Fernandez of the Dominican Republic at the extraordinary meeting of the Permanent Council scheduled for next June 21, 2016 to present the progress of the initiative of the national political dialogue in Venezuela, and we reiterate our support for the convening of the extraordinary meeting of the Permanent Council on June 23, 2016 for the consideration of the report of the Secretary General on Venezuela.
