The OAS General Assembly will meet June 2 in Honduras, and Cuba will be on the agenda.
Secretary General Insulza has made many statements in the past two years calling for some kind of engagement with Cuba, and he got specific last month during the Trinidad summit, saying that the OAS should simply repeal the 1962 resolution that suspended Cuba’s membership.
The operative phrase of that resolution states that “adherence by any member of the Organization of American States to Marxism-Leninism is incompatible with the inter-American system and the alignment of such a government with the communist bloc breaks the unity and solidarity of the hemisphere.”
Insulza’s idea is interesting. Repeal of the 1962 resolution would be a clear statement that the organization views Cuba’s membership differently than it did then, at the height of the Cold War, and it would surely be interpreted as a warming toward Cuba. But it would merely open the door to Cuba – it would not in itself result in Cuba’s re-integration, and it would not force the member states, or Cuba for that matter, to deal with the issue of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, adopted in 2001.
Insulza discussed the issue in this interview with Spain’s El Pais, saying that Cuba could begin by attending meetings on social issues and similar matters. He notes that Cuba is not the only member state that has problems meeting all the requirements of the Democratic Charter.
For its part, Cuba has made it clear that if the OAS opens the door, it has little interest in walking through. Raul Castro said last month that the OAS “should disappear,” and Fidel Castro has issued two commentaries in recent days; in this one he calls the OAS one of the “instruments with which they made us into colonies,” and this one is titled, “Again, the Rotten OAS,” which sort of says it all.
It’s not as if Cuba needs to return to the OAS to find a venue for multilateral diplomacy – one could argue that in the Rio Group, the Non-Aligned Movement, the UN General Assembly, and the UN Human Rights Council, and elsewhere, Cuba knows how to choose its terrain and it is doing just fine.
In the coming weeks, there are interesting issues to watch. Who will present the resolution, how will it be presented, and what will it say? How will the Obama Administration decide to vote – yes, no, abstain – and since the OAS operates almost always by consensus, how will the member states proceed if there is not unanimity?
9 comments:
We should expect fireworks and even a walkout by Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and maybe Ecuador at the next OAS meeting. Cuba may be the excuse but the true aim is to destroy hemispheric institutions that set clear parameters for internal political conduct.
It should be remembered that the Inter-american Democratic Charter helps elected officials regardless of political leanings against military takeovers. The biggest loser of an OAS blow-up would be Haiti that needs the OAS to maintain internal order.
The real question is what would be Brazil's position: support for the OAS existence or its demise.
Vecino de NF
Vecino, why would the ALBA block walk-out? They are in the majority on this issue. They would only walk-out if the US tried to orchestrate something.
That said, I don't think anyone besides the US would care much if the OAS were to blow up. The region is building their own replacement institutions, sans US. As Ortega said in front of Obama, the African countries did not include their colonizers in Europe when setting up the African Union. The OAS has a miserable history of standing of for democracy or anything else resembling ethics or justice. The US has not been criticized once. Not one word said about Gitmo...
Leftside,
The ALBA group may walk out to prove their point that the OAS should be abolished. Their reason is that they feel that the OAS institutions and legal framework impedes the implementation of their internal political agenda.
The only reason to keep the OAS intact is to have an organization that can mediate the conflicts between the USA and the rest of the hemisphere. Would it be more helpful for the welfare of Latin America to have a Latin American block against a USA block replicating a Warswaw Pact vs Nato scenario or to have a diplomatic forum where all interests are discussed peacefully and overtly? Can it be argued that the USA will be less interventionist without an OAS than with an activist OAS?
We are in the XXI century with real emerging power players like Brazil. We should be looking forward not backwards. The current US administration would look favorably to real empowerment by Latin American countries. Are we willing to waste this opportunity for internal political gains based on past history?
Vecino de NF
right, lets look forward, the point is OAS has been historically seen to be in service of American interests. Cuba has no desire to be part of it for those reasons.
So what's wrong with trashing this antiquated organization and realign based on todays latin american realities. that's what is happening now. latin america needs the USA as a player, an important one, but not dominant. within the latin american framework you may finally see the end of america's hegemony with american interests primary.
latin american countries are being empowered under their terms, whether the USA likes it or not
anonimo
Anonimo,
Welcome back! How was Kingston?
Could you please comment on the accuracy of the chronology of the Boca de Sama events at http://emba.cubaminrex.cu/Default.aspx?tabid=17808?
BTW I have been reading some of Prof.Perez' books, and you were right they are a great source of information although sometimes they are week on the sourcing.
Vecino de NF
assume you mean 'weak' which is a wide ranging comment, with negative connotations; so not sure entirely what you mean re his sourcing.
anyone with any interest in cuba-america relations TODAY, should read his book Cuba in the american imagination.
anonimo
Anonimo,
Yes, weak not week! (And by weak I mean not extensive). Spelling and grammar are the first two casualties in blogging.
So what about the link? Is it accurate?
Vecino de NF
something both right and left can agree on: the OAS is a joke.
Yes, the OAS should take rapid action to bring Cuba back into the family of Latin American nations, where it belongs! Enough of all this silly talk about "human rights" and other nonsense. Not ONE MOMENT should be lost, as Our Comandante is wont to say, in the rush toward throwing ourselves before our Comandante's Throne of Glory in worshipful adoration of the First Free Territory of the Americas! Tragic as it may be to express it, Our Comandante will not always be among us to receive his groveling sycophants, so no time must be lost!
Post a Comment