Joint Declaration on the Situation in Bolivia

Demonstrators holding up Bolivian flags protest against the Bolivian elections outside of the Organization of American States (OAS) during a special meeting of the Permanent Council at OAS headquarters in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

November 12, 2019

Taking into account the situation in Bolivia and, particularly, the events of November 10th, 2019, the Governments of Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, USA, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela resolve to:

1. Reject all acts of violence, regardless of their origin, that threaten stability and the defense of democracy in Bolivia;

2. Call for social peace, stressing that the solution to the crisis must take place within a framework of full respect for the Constitution, the laws of Bolivia and the rule of law;

3. Urge the political actors and representatives of all organs of the Bolivian state to act in accordance with their constitutional mandate;

4. Recognize the professional and technical work carried out by the Electoral Observation Mission of the Organization of American States and the OAS Electoral Integrity Analysis Mission, which analyzed, at the invitation of the Government of Bolivia, different stages of the electoral process carried out on October, 20th, 2019;

5. Emphasize that the Electoral Integrity Analysis Mission pointed out that, due to the irregularities found in the electoral process, it was not possible to validate the results of the Bolivian election, and therefore recommended that another electoral process be carried out, with new electoral authorities and international observers, in order to generate credibility in the democratic transition process; and

6. Call, in this sense, for the designation of the provisional Presidency to be confirmed on an urgent basis and as stipulated in the Constitution and in Bolivian law, and that the process of calling elections be initiated as soon as possible, with express guarantees that the electoral process will be carried out with justice, freedom, transparency and respect for the sovereign will of the Bolivian people.