During the reported three hours of debate, Nicaragua and Honduras introduced separate plans to permit Cuba to return to the OAS since the country was shunned in 1962. In a surprise move, the U.S. put on the table its own resolution inviting Cuba "to initiate a dialogue… regarding its eventual reintegration into the inter-American system consistent with the principles of sovereignty, independence, non-intervention, democracy." (The State Department emphasized that the proposal meant “no change of policy” to Cuba though that didn’t stop Cuban-American legislators from blasting the move).
In the end, the council agreed to create a working group to present a single recommendation at the OAS General Assembly meeting next week in Honduras. It may be seen a step towards progress by OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza who remarked in March:
Insulza, in an interview in Medellin, Colombia, said the 1962 OAS resolution that banned Cuba from the Washington-based assembly because of its links to communism, China and the Soviet Union no longer makes sense.Image- radiojamaica.com
“One of the countries has disappeared and the other is buying a lot of U.S. Treasuries,” Insulza said at the Inter- American Development Bank’s annual meeting. “Please, if they’re going to be excluded, let’s come up with some better criteria.”
Online Sources- Miami Herald, Reuters, Bloomberg, El Universal, U.S. State Department
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