- Title: OAS nations weigh in on Venezuela crisis at Cancun meeting
- Date: 19th June 2017
- Summary: OFFICERS IN RIOT GEAR (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FATHER OF MISSING STUDENT, ESTANISLAO MENDOZA, SAYING: "We have also come to protest here. We want to reach the foreign ministers meeting here but they stopped us, they didn't let us pass and that is why were are here blocking this site." MENDOZA STANDING BEFORE POLICE AND HOLDING PLACARD WITH PHOTO OF MISSING SON (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FATHER OF MISSING STUDENT, ESTANISLAO MENDOZA, SAYING: "Listen to us, listen to us about what is happening here in Mexico with the 43 (missing) and the thousands of others who have disappeared." POLICE AGAINST THEIR SHIELDS PARENTS OF MISSING 43 STUDENTS AND THEIR SUPPORTERS CHANTING "ALIVE THEY WERE TAKEN, ALIVE WE WANT THEM"
- Embargoed: 3rd July 2017 21:08
- Keywords: Organization of American States General Assembly Nicolas Maduro Venezuela
- Location: CANCUN, MEXICO
- Reuters ID: LVA0036LY3RK3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Members of the Organisation of American States (OAS) are bracing for a stormy start to the body's General Assembly in Cancun on Monday (June 19) with a political and social crisis in Venezuela high on the agenda.
The OPEC nation has been wracked by protests and widespread discontent amidst product shortages, a flailing economy and widespread crime.
Some members of the OAS are seeking to censure Venezuelan for violating the group's democratic charter.
President Nicolas Maduro has rebuffed calls for an early election. Instead, he has proposed a constituent assembly with the power to change the constitution.
But critics fear the new body will be stacked with government supporters.
As host, Mexico will seek support for a resolution on Venezuela at the Cancun meeting.
But with talk on Venezuela expected to expose the deep left and right divides of Latin American nations, some foreign ministers have talked up inclusive dialogue as the only path to a resolution.
Venezuela has previously rejected such overtures, and in April announced it will begin the process to withdraw from the OAS.
At another site in Cancun, parents of Mexico's 43 missing students feared massacred also gathered to call for the return of their loved ones.
More than two years after they went missing, the remains of the majority of the victims are still to be found. Mexico's government claims the bodies of the students were incinerated at a rubbish dump in the lawless state of Guerrero.
But investigators from OAS member states have cast doubt on official investigations in Mexico. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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