Cuba and the OAS
By Stabroek staff
The forthcoming General Assembly of the Organiz-ation of American
States, at the beginning of June, in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, is
expected to be dominated by discussion on Cuba's readmission to the OAS
and its place in the hemisphere.
In 1962, at the height of the Cold War, Cuba was suspended from the OAS,
at the urging of the United States of America. Now, following the Fifth
Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and President Barack Obama's declared
intent to seek "a new beginning with Cuba," speculation is rife that
this could be a landmark General Assembly.
The Honduran Foreign Minister, Patricia Rodas, visiting Washington on
Monday, has already expressed the hope that the General Assembly will be
a "historic event," noting that it could be "key for the future of the
OAS," if, as she expects, there arises "a new form of political dialogue
in the continent."
Some might argue that there is already "a new form of political dialogue
in the continent," as a consequence of President Obama's engagement with
Latin American and Caribbean leaders in Port of Spain. But, of course, a
lot more substance to match the style has to follow with regard to his
administration's policy towards Latin America and the Caribbean. And
Cuba, just 90 miles from Florida, is increasingly regarded as the key to
the new US engagement with the rest of the hemisphere south of its borders.
Nevertheless, the Foreign Minister's desire to 'big up' the Honduran
General Assembly is perfectly understandable. And while the main theme
of the General Assembly is "Towards a culture of non-violence," to be
reflected in a declaration that Honduras hopes will be "short, precise
and concrete" – which would be quite the opposite of the summit's
ill-fated Declaration of Port of Spain – there appear to be high hopes
that significant progress will be made in San Pedro Sula towards
reversing Cuba's suspension from the OAS.
Now, even though almost the whole hemisphere has been clamouring for a
normalization of relations between the USA and Cuba and for Cuba's
reintegration into the inter-American system, it is quite unlikely that
the matter will be put to a vote in this General Assembly or in any
other, without prior indication from the USA that it will support the
move. For, as Prime Minister Patrick Manning discovered to his chagrin
last month with regard to the adoption of the Summit Declaration,
majority consensus without unanimity is sometimes close to meaningless.
And passing a resolution to readmit Cuba will not be a simple matter.
There are, after all, several possible sticking points relating to
democracy, respect for human rights and freedom of expression in Cuba –
issues on which the OAS has made considerable and important progress
over the past 20 years.
The Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, has said that Cuba's
readmission to the OAS will depend on its desire to follow continental
norms in democracy and human rights. President Obama has lifted
restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba by Cuban Americans, but
he has also said that any progress towards lifting the embargo will
depend on the freeing of political prisoners in Cuba.
However, with an increasing number of US states and agricultural
interests looking for market opportunities in Cuba and calling for the
removal of the embargo, the pressure is mounting for its unilateral
repeal. This will depend on Congress, and the chairman of the powerful
House Ways and Means Committee, Congressman Charles Rangel, has
introduced legislation to end the embargo. Some believe that an
intermediate step might be for Congress to move first to end
restrictions on agricultural sales and US citizens travelling to Cuba.
But in spite of the pressure coming from within the USA and from Latin
America and the Caribbean, there remain serious questions as to whether
the Cuban government is itself ready to adopt certain democratic
measures, including releasing its political prisoners. So far, the
official Cuban position is that the embargo was imposed on the island by
the USA, which also orchestrated Cuba's suspension from the OAS, both
viewed as acts of aggression by Cuba. So, why then, they ask, with
righteous indignation, should Cuba have to make concessions for these
actions to be reversed?
Cuba has been able to make its way in the world for the best part of the
past 50 years, albeit with mixed social and economic results, without
the USA and the OAS. It is a member of other regional processes, such as
the Ibero-American Summit, the Rio Group and ALBA. This all rather begs
the question whether Cuba needs to be in the OAS just yet.
For the Cuban leadership, it would appear that the stakes are higher
than readmission to the OAS. It will therefore be fascinating to see how
this particular political poker game plays out at the General Assembly
and beyond.
Cuba and the OAS - Stabroek News (8 May 2009)
http://www.stabroeknews.com/2009/editorial/05/08/cuba-and-the-oas/
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