from Dr. Eduardo Santana

Some public personalities, including editorialists at major newspapers in the United States, have expressed they are “puzzled and dismayed” by the unanimous “readmission” of Cuba to the OAS. Let me try to explain and comfort.

Cuba was suspended, not expelled, from the OAS, so it did not need to be “readmitted”. The OAS Charter has no clause whereby a state may be separated from the organization.  Cuba’s exclusion through Resolution VI adopted on 31 January 1962 at the 8th General OAS meeting was an imposition by the United States government through undemocratic coercion and buying of votes of member states.

Resolution VI was aberrant as it violated the OAS regulations, more specifically: ARTICLE 3(e):  “Every State has the right to choose, without external interference, its political, economic, and social system …”;  ARTICLE 19: “No State or group of States has the right to intervene, directly or indirectly … in the internal or external affairs of any other State… [including] any other form of interference or attempted threat against the personality of the State or against its political, economic, and cultural elements.”; and ARTICLE 20: “No State may use or encourage the use of coercive measures of an economic or political character in order to force the sovereign will of another State…”

It was inappropriate, wrong, and illegal for OAS member states to exclude Cuba, thus as Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa stated that the exclusion of Cuba “…was a tremendous shame and demonstrates the double standards that exist in international relations…The OAS must be reformed and reincorporate Cuba; if not, it will have to disappear.”

Honduras’ President, Manuel Zelaya, stated at the OAS General Assembly: “We … [the Latin American Presidents of the Rio Group] made a commitment… which was taken down in writing … that … by majority vote or consensus, that old and worn error committed in 1962 of expelling the Cuban people from this organization would have to be amended.”

Zelaya continued, “We must not go from this assembly… without repealing the decree … which sanctioned an entire people for having proclaimed socialist ideas and principles… now practiced in all parts of the world, including the United States and Europe.”.

These statements show the strength of the Latin American commitment to undoing the wrong to Cuba.  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not have much real political space to maneuver at the OAS meeting.

Although practically all countries in the hemisphere have resolved the historical differences they might have had with Cuba, the US still has to come a long way to undue the five decades of supporting congressionally documented military invasions and illegal sabotage, assassination and terrorism activities against Cuba.

Violation of human rights or lack of perfect elections cannot be used as reasons to exclude Cuba, they are common in other OAS member countries (e.g., George W. Bush’s was first elected President through a court decision not by the democratic will of the people, many totalitarian Latin American regimes of the past like Chile or Argentina, were not excluded, and more civilians “disappear” and reporters are assassinated in most Latin American countries than in Cuba). Other human rights are better provided in Cuba than in other countries (e.g., to education, health services, and nutrition).

I believe that the OAS decision will actually help “puzzled and dismayed” US policy-makers to find their way in a new and changing Latin America.

Eduardo Santana, of Cuban origin, is Adjunct Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Professor at the University of Guadalajara, Mexico. He is recipient of the WWF International Prince Bernhard Fellow in Conservation, the international Biodiversity Leadership Award, Partners in Flight Conservation and Leadership Awards, and Mexico’s national Nature Conservation Recognition. Address: esantana@cucsur.udg.mx