A US-LED bid to scupper Venezuela’s constitutional reform process aimed at ending opposition-led violence was defeated by the country’s regional allies on Wednesday.

A special meeting of the Washington-based Organisation of American States (OAS) was suspended after a draft declaration by Peru, Canada, the US, Mexico and Panama failed to gain support.

That motion demanded that Venezuela’s United Socialist Party (PSUV) government halt the ongoing National Constituent Assembly process to make far-reaching amendments to the constitution.

Antigua and Barbuda withdrew a similar resolution.

The 15-member Caribbean Community (Caricom) tabled a motion calling for the “establishment of concrete plans for the restoration of peace and stability as soon as possible,” without attacking the constituent assembly.

But Venezuela and its allies insisted that the OAS had no right to intervene in its domestic affairs.

Nicaraguan representative Luis Alvarado condemned the attempt to “subvert the rights” of a sovereign country.

“We demand the end to the political lynching,” he said. “Nothing can be imposed on the great and sovereign nation of Venezuela. It is absolutely essential these actions cease.”

Bolivian Foreign Minister Fernando Huanacuni Mamani accused the OAS of having opted for “aggression” and “confrontation.”

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez condemned her Mexican counterpart Luis Videgaray’s characterisation of her country as one “with authoritarian features and without functioning democracy.”

She pointed to Mexico’s record of “drug-trafficking, murders of journalists and social violence.” T

he opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (Mud) coalition — supported by Washington and the EU — has refused to participate in the constituent assembly.

It dismisses the process as merely an attempt by President Nicolas Maduro to stall Mud demands for an early presidential election — backed by two months of riots that have left more than 70 people dead, according to regional news channel Telesur.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Justice Tribunal ruled that the decisions of the proposed 1,100-member constituent assembly would not need to be put to a national referendum.

Ms Rodriguez also condemned Mud parliamentary speaker Julio Borges’s Wednesday meeting with MEPs, where he tried to persuade the European Union to impose sanctions on his own country.

Mr Borges claimed that 4,000 Venezuelan children had died of malnutrition amid the crisis — which the government blames on US economic warfare and black marketeers stealing subsidised food.

In Caracas, Cuban ambassador Rogelio Polanco Fuentes said medical professionals and other solidarity volunteers from his country would continue their work despite the opposition violence.

Meanwhile, in New York, the United Nations general assembly voted overwhelmingly to elect Venezuela to the presidency of the decolonisation commission, despite US opposition.