Cubaverdad

Posted on Thursday, 06.04.09
THE OPPENHEIMER REPORT
Cuba is closer to Organization of American States, but not our shared
principles
By Andres Oppenheimer
aoppenheimer@MiamiHerald.com

T he 34-country Organization of American States' historic decision to
lift its 1962 suspension of Cuba was the easy part. Now comes the real
challenge: getting the OAS to demand that Cuba's dictatorship abide by
the group's democracy clauses before the island can rejoin the organization.

That won't happen anytime soon, and you and I know it.

Unless Cuba's military regime decides to allow free elections, or the
Obama administration decides to shelve its stated commitment to
democracy in the Americas, the OAS decision at its General Assembly on
Wednesday amounts to postponing the debate on Cuba's readmission.

According to the consensus agreement that was celebrated by all member
countries — including the United States — as a ''historic''
achievement, the OAS lifted the more-than-four-decade-old suspension of
Cuba, rooted in the Cold War, and started a process of inviting Cuba to
rejoin the group based on the ''practices, purposes and principles'' of
the OAS.

MIXED INTERPRETATIONS

But while Wednesday's decision gave a propaganda victory to Venezuela,
Ecuador, Nicaragua and other admirers of Cuba's military regime, and
while the Obama administration gave significant ground from its earlier
effort to set conditions to lift Cuba's suspension, the devil may be in
the details of Wednesday's consensus document.

The resolution, in addition to lifting Cuba's suspension, states that
''Cuba's participation in the OAS will result from a process of dialogue
started at the request of Cuba's government and according to the
practices, purposes and principles of the OAS,'' the organization said
in a statement.

U.S. officials said this means that to take the next step and become a
full OAS member, Cuba would have to honor the group's 1966 Democratic
Charter, which requires that member states abide by “essential elements
of representative democracy.''

The OAS Charter is pretty specific. Article 3 says that these
''essential elements'' include ''respect for human rights,'' holding
''periodic, free and fair elections based on secret balloting,'' and
having a “pluralistic system of political parties.''

Cuban President Gen. Raúl Castro and his brother Fidel, who still
commands significant power, have repeatedly said they will not allow
political parties, free elections or freedom of speech. To protect
themselves from such pressures, they have said they don't want to be
part of the OAS, claiming that the group is a “puppet of U.S.
imperialism.''

But Latin American countries may interpret Wednesday's agreement
differently, and say that Cuba already abides by the OAS' overall
principles, and that its deviations from some OAS rules are no worse
than Washington's trade embargo on Cuba. Brazil's President Luiz Inácio
Lula da Silva said Wednesday that he is optimistic that OAS member
countries will find a way to readmit Cuba to the organization “within
months.''

Virtually all Latin American and Caribbean countries hailed the OAS
decision as a milestone.

''Today is a historic day, a day of rejoicing for all the people of the
Americas,'' Argentina Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana told the OAS
meeting. “We have put an end to an anachronism.''

But human rights and pro-democracy groups point out that the real
anachronism is Cuba's refusal to allow people access to the Internet,
express themselves freely, and belong to independent unions or political
parties, let alone electing their government.

THE ONUS ON OBAMA

My opinion: As I stated in a May 24 column, nearly two weeks before the
vote, I'm not opposed to lifting Cuba's suspension from the OAS. But
that decision should be used by the Obama administration to mount a
major diplomatic offensive to put pressure on Cuba's military regime to
open up its political system.

If Obama does not take advantage of his popularity in Latin America to
do that and Cuba is readmitted as it is to the OAS, his Republican
critics will be right in saying that he has relinquished his May 23,
2008, campaign promise to ''never, ever compromise the cause of
liberty'' in Cuba. I hope Obama proves them wrong.

Cuba is closer to Organization of American States, but not our shared
principles – Columnists – MiamiHerald.com (4 June 2009)

http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/columnists/story/1080532.html