Letting Cuba in would be `perversion of principle'

Posted on Tuesday, 05.26.09
ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES
Letting Cuba in would be `perversion of principle'
BY MEL MARTINEZ
martinez.senate.gov

As the nations of the Western Hemisphere prepare to meet in Honduras for
the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), the
question again arises as to whether this hemisphere stands with the
principles of democracy or the terror and misery of tyranny. It would
seem an easy choice, but a move is afoot to readmit Cuba to the OAS.
Such a move, if not quashed with vigor, sends a chilling message
regarding the future of our hemisphere. In September 2001, the OAS
achieved a global first and, unlike any other region its size, ratified
a document outlining 28 agreed-upon articles that resolve to promote
democratic institutions, free and fair elections and the protection of
human rights.

The document, the Inter-American Democratic Charter, states in its first
article that, ``the peoples of the Americas have a right to democracy,
and their governments have an obligation to promote and defend it.''

The Charter goes on to outline what it calls ''the essential elements of
representative democracy'' as including respect for human rights and
fundamental freedoms, access to and the exercise of power in accordance
with the rule of law, the holding of periodic, free, and fair elections,
a system of pluralistic political parties, the separation of powers and
the independence of the branches of government.

This commitment by this hemisphere to democracy has few precedents and
makes our hemisphere distinct. It reflects the leadership this
hemisphere has taken during the past 30 years to embrace democratic
norms and ensure respect for an individual's fundamental freedoms.

Push to readmit

But some, including the secretary general of the OAS, have brought this
powerful commitment to democracy and human freedom into question by
suggesting that it is time to readmit the Cuban dictatorship into the
organization.

In 1962, the decision to exclude the Castro government from active
membership in the OAS was based on a unanimous declaration that
Marxism-Leninism, a system that still prevails in Cuba, was incompatible
with the inter-American system. The OAS stated that such a system with
its denial of freedom and dignity to individuals was anathema to the
core principles of representative democracy, human rights and
self-determination.

The only tragedy larger than the Cuban regime's failure to break from
its past would be the General Assembly's readmission of a country that
has not shown the will to meet any of the commitments outlined in the
Democratic Charter.

Recently, 250 Cuban activists, in Cuba, signed an open letter to the OAS
stating, ``Cuba has not been separated from the OAS. It is the
tyrannical regime which violates the public liberties of Cubans that has
been separated. Nevertheless, what worries us most is not the affront
which would be committed against our rights by accepting the
dictatorship which oppresses us as an equal in terms of the fundamental
values of its democratic neighbors, but rather the damage that would be
inflicted on the hemisphere itself.''

There should be no ''Cuba exception'' to this hemisphere's commitment to
democracy. The United States should encourage the OAS to formulate how
it might help Cuba make a transition to democracy and become fully
compliant with the Democratic Charter. The Cuban people, not the current
government elite in Havana, need to be the guides of this process. The
opening move must be a dialogue between the government in Havana and the
Cuban people.

Help the Cuban people

The OAS, the United States and all signatories to the Democratic Charter
should focus on helping the Cuban people claim their fundamental rights
and fulfill the vision of protected democracy and human rights. Cuba's
readmission to the OAS would be a perversion of principle and a stunning
reversal of democratic progress; it would be the dissolution of this
hemisphere's significant commitment to freedom and would make the OAS a
hollow body.

Born in Cuba, Mel Martinez is a U.S. senator from Florida and former
secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Letting Cuba in would be `perversion of principle' - Other Views -
MiamiHerald.com (26 May 2009)

http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/1065334.html