WASHINGTON: Venezuela on Friday managed to prevent discussion of its political crisis at an Organization of American States meeting, and also stopped an opposition lawmaker from speaking to the regional body.

After an eight-hour session closed to the press at the group's Washington headquarters, 22 countries voted against discussing Venezuela's increasingly violent political crisis.

Panama had accredited Venezuelan lawmaker Maria Corina Machado to its delegation so she could speak about the situation in Venezuela, where 31 people have been killed anti-government protests since February 4.

But Venezuelan Ambassador Ray Chaderton said that a Machado presentation would have violated the group's principle of non-intervention in affairs of other countries.