MONTEVIDEO (AFP) — The international community last night urged Venezuela to return quickly to normality, with Latin American countries voicing concerns that the ouster of President Hugo Chavez and appointment of a new government was undemocratic.

Bloody scenes that left 15 dead and 350 wounded Thursday led to the departure of Chavez and the designation of businessman Pedro Carmona as his interim successor by the military.

Peruvian president, Alejandro Toledo urged the Organisation of American States to throw the Democratic Charter at Venezuela, which would impose sanctions on the oil-rich nation on grounds it had broken the constitution, under Article 20 of the Charter.

“I wasn’t the greatest fan of the Chavez government and I recognise that the people have the right to remove their government, but they have to do so through democratic channels in adherence to the rule of law,” Toledo told Latin American presidents at the close of the Rio Group summit in the Costa Rican capital, San Jose.

The United States, apportioning blame for the bloody fighting on the ousted leader, lamented the loss of life after “peace protesters were attacked” but had no new comments following Carmona’s inauguration.

“The action encouraged by the Chavez government provoked the crisis,” White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said earlier in the day.

In a joint statement later with Spain, Washington said the “exceptional situation” in Venezuela should “lead in the shortest possible time to full democratic normalisation and work to obtain a national consensus and the guarantee of fundamental rights and freedoms”.

The White House said Washington would continue to monitor events in Venezuela, which in March was the third-largest supplier of oil to the United States, after Canada and Saudi Arabia.

Carmona, himself a former oil executive and organiser of the three-day general strike against Chavez, was sworn in around 6:00 pm yesterday as interim president. A general election will be called by December.

The new leadership immediately moved to repeal all 49 of the controversial laws for industry, agriculture and fishing passed by the Chavez government.

Following the measure, the federal legislature known as the National Assembly used to decree the law annulment was also scrapped, adding fuel to demands by the 19 Rio Group member nations that the Organisation of American States call an emergency session.

Rio Group members consider what happened in Venezuela “a rupture of the constitutional order, which does not appear suitable to us”, Chilean president, Ricardo Lagos said earlier.

His sentiments were echoed by Mexican president, Vicente Fox, who said his government would not immediately recognise the new regime in Caracas, as did Argentine president, Eduardo Duhalde.

The most vociferous critic of events was Chavez-ally Cuba, which immediately fell victim to the change in regime in Venezuela.

State oil giant Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) quickly reinstated managers ousted by Chavez then announced an end to cheap oil for Cuba. Venezuela had been selling about 53,000 barrels of oil a day to Cuba at a discounted price under an arrangement signed in 2000 between Chavez and Castro.

Cuban foreign minister, Felipe Perez Roque said Latin America’s only communist nation “considers President Chavez at the moment to be the constitutional president of Venezuela.

But Brazil’s foreign ministry expressed confidence that Venezuelans would quickly “find the way to return to democratic normality, by quickly holding elections”.

Colombia also appeared to be satisfied with the change in status quo.

One of the allegations against Chavez was that he was a supporter of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), with which the Colombian government recently cut off peace talks, driving some rebels into Venezuela for refuge.

Foreign Minister Clemencia Forero said the arrival of Carmona was “a good sign”, but said she wanted to see elections “as soon as possible”.