"Imposing Conditions, O.A.S. Lifts Its Suspension of Cuba” heads the New York Times story; whilst the  InterPress Service (IPS) says “OAS Opens Doors to Cuba without conditions'. Which is correct?

Appended below is the actual text of the resolution passed by acclamation at the OAS General Assembly Plenary Session, including the U.S., on June 3, 2009. The substance of the resolution is contained in two clauses. The first declares that Resolution 6 of 1962 that suspended Cuba “ceases to have effect”. No conditions, reservations or qualifications are attached to that declaration.

The second clause declares that “the participation of the Republic of Cuba in the OAS will be the result of a process of dialogue initiated at the request of the Government of Cuba, and in accordance with the practices, purposes, and principles of the OAS”. I read this as having two implications. First, that nothing will happen until and unless Cuba decides to initiate a dialogue. As we know from official Cuban statements, this is by no means certain. Perhaps there will be intense communication behind the scenes going over this question; for example between Cuba and its ALBA friends and between Cuba and the OAS.

Second, if Cuba does decide to initiate official dialogue, we can anticipate a great deal of negotiation over the interpretation of "in accordance with the practices, purposes, and principles of the OAS."  It is at this point that the US push to impose its conditions  would no doubt be exercised. But we also know that the US cannot just expect to have its way on this and other matters, as it has in the OAS in the past. Coming after the events at the Vth Summit of the Americas, the resolution amounts to a Latin American and Caribbean declaration of independence from the United States.

So my reading is that the resolution is in fact political victory of great symbolic importance for the Cuban Revolution, which has secured  recognition of its ‘right to exist'; and for the Cuban  Government, whose legitimacy has been accepted; from the last hold-out organisation formerly dominated by Washington. It's also a victory for the sovereignty and independence of Latin America and the Caribbean vis-a-vis the hegemonic pretensions of the U.S.

At the same time it leaves unresolved, and for subsequent determination, the issue of whether Cuba will actually participate in the OAS; and if so, on what terms and conditions. And this applies on the Cuban side as well as the U.S. side.

If Cuba does decide to initiate dialogue, I would not be surprised if it proposes some conditions of its own. Such as the lifting of the illegal blockade on the country imposed by a fellow OAS member. And possibly the payment of compensation for the damage done by the blockade, even the freeing of the 'Cuban Five.'

And why not?  Have the past and present actions of the U.S. Government towards Cuba been "in accordance with the practices, purposes, and principles of the OAS"?
____________

AS Resolution on Cuba 3 June 2009
AG/RES.. 2438 (XXXIX-O/09)

RESOLUTION ON CUBA

(Approved during the third plenary session held on June 3, 2009)[1]^/

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

RECOGNIZING the shared interest in the full participation of all the member states;

GUIDED by the purposes and principles of the Organization of American States (OAS) embodied in the Charter of the Organization and in its other fundamental instruments related to security, democracy, self-determination, nonintervention, human rights, and development;

CONSIDERING the open-mindedness that characterized the dialogue of the Heads of State and Government at the Fifth Summit of the Americas, in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, and that in that same spirit the member states wish to establish a revitalized and ample framework of cooperation in hemispheric relations; and

BEARING IN MIND that, pursuant to Article 54 of the OAS Charter, the General Assembly is the supreme organ of the Organization,

RESOLVES:

1.            That Resolution VI, adopted on January 31, 1962, at the Eighth Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, which excluded the Government of Cuba from its participation in the Inter-American system, hereby ceases to have effect in the Organization of American States (OAS).

2.            That the participation of the Republic of Cuba in the OAS will be the result of a process of dialogue initiated at the request of the Government of Cuba, and in accordance with the practices, purposes, and principles of the OAS.

[1].              Revised by Style Committee on June 3, 2009.