ALBA warns OAS

The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of America (ALBA) has warned the Organisation of American States (OAS) to stay out of Venezuela's internal affairs.



Scores of Venezuelan students have asked OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza to investigate cases of political prisoners.



The students started a hunger strike outside the Caracas offices of the OAS three weeks ago to highlight the cases of two jailed opposition deputies.



Insulza has said the organisation cannot send a mission unless the government of President Hugo Chavez agrees.



However, Venezuela authorities insist that the youths are protesting about internal matters that do not concern the OAS.



That view is shared by ALBA, which includes Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda and St Vincent and the Grenadines.



In what was called a joint statement, ALBA nations demanded that Insulza stop his attacks against the government in Caracas.