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Chief of Staff of the OAS Secretary General Discusses History and Challenges of the Inter-American Democratic Charter

The Chief of Staff of the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Ambassador Hugo de Zela, gave a lecture at George Washington University about democracy, the OAS and the Inter-American Democratic Charter, in an event that marked the beginning of a series of lectures for students, academics and analysts from Washington, DC.

Ambassador De Zela highlighted some of the main strengths of the Charter, among which he mentioned that it is the "government program of a democratic republic;" that it has served as an example of the pragmatic political will in the region to deepen democratic principles and act in accordance with them; and that it introduces new concepts such as the right to democracy, in addition to explaining the elements of a democracy and what to do when they are in danger.

The Peruvian diplomat highlighted the role played by the organization in accordance with the principles of the Charter, especially in the situations in Venezuela in 2002 – 2004; Nicaragua and Ecuador in 2005; Bolivia in 2008; Guatemala and Paraguay in 2009; Honduras in 2009 – 2010; Ecuador in 2010, and Haiti in 2010 – 2011. Of all these instances, he explained, two (Venezuela in 2002 and Honduras in 2009) were considered to be disruptions of the democratic order. In the remaining nine, the Democratic Charter was applied preventively.

In his presentation, Ambassador De Zela said that the evaluation of the first 10 years of the Democratic Charter revealed that “there is a clear indication that the region’s political landscape has changed and that the consensus that gave birth to the Inter-American Democratic Charter began to change.” He added that there is a consensus on the evolution of traditional democratic principles, especially in the source of legitimacy: the principle of access to power through elections has been joined by the "democratic exercise of governance."

In line with the Secretary General José Miguel Insulza, De Zela noted the challenges encountered in the implementation of the Charter, including the need for a clear definition of concepts such as the "alteration of the constitutional order" or "serious deterioration of the democratic order," and emphasized on the need to be specific on the preventative measures at the disposition of the organization and on the Secretary General’s follow-up mechanisms.

As is often done by Insulza, the Peruvian diplomat quoted the first Secretary General of the institution, Alberto Lleras Camargo, who said that "the OAS is what its Member States want it to be," and insisted that the organization has been and will remain relevant in the hemisphere to the extent that Member States determine what they want to make the OAS in terms of democracy. "The strengthening of the OAS should be initiated by the member countries themselves," he said, because "the organization receives the mandates and acts accordingly.”

After reviewing the history of how hemispheric relations evolved since the end of World War II, including the adoption of the OAS Charter in 1948, De Zela described the basics of the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of countries, and explained that in the 70s it became "a relative principle, because "many military governments in the region began to weaken and the first movements towards restoration of democracy emerged, especially in South America, which brought about a trend to defend human rights that are violated by dictatorships.” It was at that time, he said “when the defense of human rights began to be very important in international policy."

Speaking of the end of dictatorships in South America and the escalation of internal conflicts in Central America, the senior OAS official stressed that in the late 1980s there was a conviction that “the South American dictatorships can only be brought to an end through the consolidation of democracies and that the Central American peace process would only be possible through strengthening democracy.” "The defense and promotion of democracy, and its political significance, are enshrined in the organization’s legal instruments, giving rise to diverse instruments in this area that revealed the incipient political commitment by the countries of the region to challenge absolute adherence to the Principle of Non-Intervention, through some type of what we today call ‘concerted collective action.’”

The Chief of Staff of the Secretary General José Miguel Insulza recalled how the Inter-American Democratic Charter was created as a result of the Third Summit of the Americas held in Quebec, Canada, in 2001, when the Heads of State and Government of the Americas established a "democratic clause" which led to the development of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, adopted in Lima, Peru, in 2001.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-054/13