Cuba’s OAS suspension ended after 47 years

SAN PEDRO SULA – The Organisation of American States cleared the way for Cuba’s possible return to the group by lifting a 47-year ban on the communist-run country, a move backed by Washington despite initial objections.

The vote by acclamation on Wednesday to revoke a 1962 measure suspending the island from the body not only toppled a Cold War landmark but was the latest sign of the end of Cuba’s isolation in a region increasingly governed by leftist leaders.Even traditional US ally El Salvador this week restored ties with Cuba, meaning that every country in the hemisphere except for the United States has re-established relations. The US embargo of Cuba also remains deeply unpopular in much of Latin America.’At this meeting today we have washed away a stain that had affected us all,’ said Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, whose leftist Sandinista party returned to power in 2006.The decision was made by consensus, meaning the United States accepted it, though Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had lobbied personally for requiring Cuba to make democratic reforms and improve respect for human rights.Still, Clinton applauded the final vote.’Many member countries originally sought to lift the 1962 suspension and allow Cuba to return immediately, without conditions,’ Clinton said in a statement issued by the State Department in Washington.’Others agreed with us that the right approach was to replace the suspension which has outlived its purpose after nearly half a century with a process of dialogue and a future decision that will turn on Cuba’s commitment to the organization’s values,’ she added.Clinton herself left the meeting before the final vote. The meeting dragged on so long on Tuesday night that she did not even have time to deliver a prepared speech of 1 500 words before flying out of Honduras to join President Barack Obama in Egypt.The OAS decision was angrily criticised in the US by opponents of Cuban president Raul Castro and his older brother, former leader Fidel Castro.US Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the vote only appeased Cuba.’Now we know where the priorities of the OAS lie,’ the Cuba-born Ros-Lehtinen said in a statement. ‘Rather than upholding democratic principles and fundamental freedoms, OAS member states, led by the OAS Secretary General, could not move quickly enough to appease their tyrannical idols in Cuba.’Today’s decision by the OAS is an affront to the Cuban people and to all who struggle for freedom, democracy, and fundamental human rights,’ she added. – Nampa-AP