Newswise — As Venezuela remains convulsed in protests at the unconstitutional actions of the country’s Supreme Court and the ongoing food and medicine shortages, questions abound about the survival of the Maduro government and the larger legacy of the late Hugo Chávez. The Organization of American States (OAS) voted April 26 to call a special meeting of foreign ministers to discuss the Venezuela crisis -- and in response, Venezuela stated its intention to become the first member of the OAS to withdraw from the 70-year-old organization.
Jennifer McCoy, PhD, was a mediator in Venezuela in 2002 after a failed coup against then-president Hugo Chávez. An expert on Venezuelan politics, with four books on the subject, the latest of which is International Mediation in Venezuela (with Francisco Diez, USIP press, 2011), she is currently a Distinguished University Professor at Georgia State University, and former director of the Carter Center’s Americas Program where she monitored Venezuelan elections and mediated conflicts in that country since 1998.
“The Venezuelan government’s harsh reaction to protestors and growing authoritarianism have elicited the greatest international condemnation since the 2002 coup against Hugo Chávez. With a deeply frustrated populace and severe financial pressures, the prospects may be brighter for a negotiated solution to the multiple crises facing Venezuela, but only if mutual guarantees can be agreed upon,” said Dr. McCoy.
Her biography is available at http://shared.cas.gsu.edu/profile/jennifer-mccoy-2-4/.
To contact Dr. McCoy, email her directly at [email protected] or Tweet at @jlynnmccoy. For further assistance in reaching the professor, contact Jeremy Craig at Georgia State University’s central public relations office at [email protected] or (+1) 404-413-1374.
Need experts on other topics? Visit the Georgia State News Hub at http://news.gsu.edu/experts.
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