Why is the OAS resolution against Venezuela illegal?


The resolution adopted by the OAS is illegal because, among other points, it originated in a proposal from the National Assembly (AN), which has been in contempt since 2016 and whose acts are null and void.
The Organization of American States (OAS) adopted on Tuesday, April 9, with the support of 18 of its 34 member states, a resolution against Venezuela that was immediately rejected by the government of President Nicolás Maduro and other Latin American countries.
The resolution, which received the rejection of nine nations and the abstention of six, indicates that the inter-American forum acknowledges Gustavo Tarre as a representative “appointed” by the opposition deputy Juan Guaidó, who proclaimed himself as interim president of the country.
Why is it illegal?
The resolution is a violation of International Law and the Charter of the Organization of American States. The one who appoints the representative of a country to the OAS is the head of the executive branch, in this case President Nicolás Maduro.
Gustavo Tarre is a person who is not known who he represents, because the OAS has not acknowledged another ruler other than president Maduro, as recalled the Venezuelan ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Samuel Moncada.
Legal aberration:
For Moncada, it is a “legal aberration” that there is a representative of a government that does not officially exist in the OAS. The OAS Secretary General, Luis Almagro, lacks the authority to acknowledge presidents. There is no “acknowledgement” document for a “self-proclaimed” president in the Inter-American organization.
The resolution creates a precedent without any legal foundation that “could affect the organization in the future”, according to the representative of Mexico, Jorge Lomónaco.
Likewise, the Charter of the hemispheric body does not empower the Permanent Council to accredit representatives of a State, as observed by the ambassadors of Mexico, Uruguay, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda and El Salvador.
The resolution without real effects:
For Lomónaco, the document approved on Tuesday “is a pyrrhic victory for a group of countries, without real effects and with potential negative consequences for the OAS and its institutionality”.
Likewise, Tarre’s proposal came from the National Assembly (AN) of Venezuela, which has been in contempt since 2016 and whose acts are null and void.