Venezuela: No OAS election observers

Venezuela said Monday it will not allow the Organization of American States to send observers to monitor December 6 legislative elections seen as crucial for country's leftist government.

The OAS's secretary-general, Luis Almagro, has pushed repeatedly to have observers monitor the elections, amid opposition fears the government might resort to fraud to retain control of the Congress.

But German Saltron, the Venezuelan government's representative on human rights issues, rejected the OAS's bid to send observers.

"Venezuela has no confidence in the OAS," Saltron said on the sidelines of a meeting of organization's Human Rights Commission.

"The OAS has certified coup d'etats, electoral fraud, and dictatorships. The OAS is not reliable," he said.

So far, Venezuela has invited international observers only from UNASUR, a South American regional body.

Saltron said his government would accept observers from other regional groups -- and even the European Union -- but not the OAS, which groups all countries in the western hemisphere but Cuba.

"It has no international credibility. It is an outdated organism," he said.

The elections come as public support for the government of President Nicolas Maduro has unraveled amid a worsening economic crisis in a country's with the world's largest oil reserves.

The IMF expects the country's economy to contract by 10 percent this year, adding to the woes of ordinary Venezuelans already struggling with shortages of food and medicine, soaring inflation and rampant crime.

Source: AFP