Editing Foreign relations of Venezuela (section)

=== Organisation of American States ===
By virtue of its geographical location, Venezuela became one of the members of the Organisation of American States (OAS) on "April 30, 1948" when they signed the "CHARTER OF THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES (A-41)".<ref>Member States of The OAS http://www.oas.org /en/member_ states/default.asp</ref> On 21 December 1951, the treaty was ratified by Venezuela "IN ACCORDANCE WITH ARTICLE 145 OF THE CHARTER".<ref>Member States of The OAS http://www.oas.org/en/member_states/default.asp</ref>

In looking at the treaty, one would note that there are three parts with twenty-two chapters in total to the Treaty of the OAS.<ref name="oas.org">OAS Treaty http://www.oas.org /dil/treaties_A41 _Charter _of_the _Organization _of _American _States.htm</ref> According to the OAS website. "Chapter XXI RATIFICATION AND ENTRY INTO FORCE, Article 141" the OAS Treaty or Charter "shall be registered with the Secretariat of the United Nations through the General Secretariat"<ref name="oas.org"/>

In accordance with "Chapter XIII THE INTER-AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR INTEGRAL DEVELOPMENT- Article 94 – The purpose of the Inter-American Council for Integral Development is to promote cooperation among the American States for the purpose of achieving integral development and, in particular, helping to eliminate extreme poverty, in accordance with the standards of the Charter, especially those set forth in Chapter VII with respect to the economic, social, educational, cultural, scientific, and technological fields."<ref>OAS Treatyhttp://www.oas.org/ dil/treaties_A41_Charter_of_the_Organization_of_AmericanStates.htm</ref> To a large extent over the years, the people of Trinidad and Tobago have benefited from the generosity of the Venezuelans, whether it was due to their innate ability to give and share or whether it was provided by the articles of the Treaty as a means to share and for that they are grateful.

On 26 April 2017, Venezuela announced its intention to withdraw from the OAS.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-39726605|title=Venezuela to withdraw from OAS as deadly protests continue|date=27 April 2017|work=BBC News|access-date=27 April 2017|language=en-GB}}</ref> Venezuelan [[Foreign Minister of Venezuela|Foreign Minister]] [[Delcy Rodríguez]] said that President Nicolás Maduro plans to publicly renounce Venezuela's membership on 27 April 2017. It will take two years for the country to formally leave. During this period, the country does not plan on participating in the OAS.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/venezuela-protesters-hit-by-tear-gas-vow-to-keep-pressure-on-government/2017/04/26/c6fbdcaa-29ee-11e7-9081-f5405f56d3e4_story.html|title=Venezuela says it will quit Organization of American States|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=27 April 2017}}</ref>

====Summits of the Americas====
"The Summits of the Americas are institutionalized gatherings of the heads of state and government of the Western Hemisphere where leaders discuss common policy issues, affirm shared values and commit to concerted actions at the national and regional level to address continuing and new challenges faced in the Americas.<ref name="sota">Summit of the Americas-Org.http://www. summit-americas.org/default_en.htm</ref> To date there have been seven Summits of the Americas. There have also been at least two Special Meetings which were held between 1996 and 2004.

"At the Third Summit," which was held in Quebec, Canada in 2001 "leaders instructed their foreign ministers to prepare an Inter-American Democratic Charter which was adopted on September 11, 2001 in Lima".<ref name="sota"/>

The Fifth Summit of the Americas was held in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago in 2009 was attended by Hugo Chávez on behalf of Venezuela. Also in attendance were Prime Minister Patrick Manning of Trinidad and Tobago and President Barack Obama of the United States of America.

The Seventh Summit of the Americas was held in Panama City, Panama on 10–11 April 2015.<ref name="summit-americas.org">Summit of the Americas.Org. {{cite web |url=http://www.summit-americas.org/default_en.htm |title=Home |access-date=24 November 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129153421/http://www.summit-americas.org/default_en.htm |archive-date=29 November 2014  }}</ref>

Peru will host the Eighth Summit of the Americas in 2018.<ref name="summit-americas.org"/>

====Indigenous Leaders Summits of Americas (ILSA)====
With Venezuela having tribes of indigenous persons, given the geographical location of the country, recent developments in the oil and gas sector internationally and offshore, (such as Eliza I and II, the developments offshore of Suriname) the contributions of the Venezuelans to the OAS with respect to this area, that is, indigenous people may be significant going forward.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.oas.org/en/topics/indigenous_peoples.asp| title = OAS Indigenous Peoples| date = August 2009}}</ref>

The position of the OAS with respect to indigenous persons appears to be developing over the years. The following statements appear to capture the position of  the OAS with respect to the ILSA :"The "OAS has supported and participated in the organisation of Indigenous Leaders Summits of Americas (ILSA)" according to the OAS's website. The most recent "statement made by the Heads of State of the hemisphere was in the Declaration of Commitments of Port of Spain  in 2009 – Paragraph 86" according to the OAS's website."<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.summit-americas.org/cs_ind.html| title = Summit Americas Indigenous Peoples}}</ref>

The Draft American Declaration of the Rights of the Indigenous Persons appears to be a working document. The last "Meeting for Negotiations in the Quest for Consensus on this area appeared to be Meeting Number (18) eighteen and is listed as being held in May 2015 according to the website.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.oas.org/consejo/CAJP/Indigenous%20special%20session.asp#Special| title = Events OAS Indigenous Special Events}}</ref>