WASHINGTON _ The Venezuelan foreign minister had harsh words Monday for the regional organization that is considering sanctioning her country for its failure to hold democratic elections.
Delcy Rodriguez, the foreign minister, accused the Organization of American States of wanting not to punish Venezuela but to destroy it.
Rodriguez appeared at an OAS panel convened in Washington, D.C., after the United States and 13 other of the hemisphere's nations united to demand the leftist Venezuelan government free political prisoners and set a date for long-overdue elections.
Failure to do so, the 14 countries warned, could trigger a decision to suspend Venezuela from the 69-year-old regional body.
OAS Secretary-General Luis Almagro, a former Uruguayan foreign minister, has been especially critical of Venezuela's embattled government. He noted that President Nicolas Maduro canceled both a referendum that could have recalled his government and later regional elections, after the opposition made huge gains in parliamentary voting in 2015.
In addition, thousands of people have been arrested for their political beliefs, Almagro said, including opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, who has been in jail for three years.
But Rodriguez, in a speech to the OAS panel, said Venezuela's "revolution" continues strong. She accused Almagro of being a stooge of the U.S. government, a "lying mercenary who is a traitor to everything a Latin American diplomat should represent."
"He lacks independence when he voluntarily bows to the wishes of the most powerful nation of this organization _ and becomes its spokesman," Rodriguez said.
Although the OAS has often been accused of pro-Washington tendencies, 13 nations in addition to the United States have joined to condemn Venezuela, a significant shift in Latin America away from populist regimes. Other leftist-ruled countries, like Bolivia, have said they will support Venezuela.
Rodriguez said the accusations against her government were "unilateral," unjustified and biased. She called on the OAS to suspend discussion of Venezuela, but another session was scheduled to proceed on Tuesday _ the same day Maduro's Socialist Party is planning big "anti-imperialism" marches at home.
All of the countries most critical of Venezuela, including the United States, say suspension of the oil-rich, Caribbean country from the OAS should be a measure of last resort.
Despite its oil wealth, Venezuela is in the throes of an economic and humanitarian disaster, with severe shortages of food and medicine and skyrocketing inflation and homicide rates.
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