The Organization of American States will meet Thursday to discuss the deepening crisis in Venezuela, where the opposition is pushing forward with efforts to activate a recall referendum of President Nicolas Maduro amid acute shortages and sporadic looting. The meeting of the OAS’s Permanent Council comprising its active member states will assess a report by Secretary-General Luis Almagro, citing an “alteration of the constitutional order” that “gravely affected” the country’s democracy. The council could activate its charter and initiate a process potentially leading to Venezuela’s suspension. South America’s largest oil producer, where the economy is expected to shrink for a third year amid triple-digit inflation, has been on tenterhooks after a rash of increasingly violent protests over shrinking supplies of basic goods from shelves after a rout in the price of crude. The meeting comes amid regional mediation efforts led by former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero […]