Cuba critics want to punish the OAS
BY LESLEY CLARK
lclark@MiamiHerald.com
WASHINGTON -- Congressional critics of the Organization of American
States' decision to end Cuba's Cold War era suspension from the
hemispheric group said Thursday they would push for cutting off U.S. aid
to the group if it accepts Cuba as is.
Cuba welcomed the gesture to bring it back into the group, but said it's
not prepared to ask for re-admission.
Rep. Connie Mack, R-Cape Coral, has introduced legislation to strip the
OAS of U.S. funding if the OAS embraces Cuba without pushing for change
on the island, saying ``if it wants to bring Cuba back in it can, but
without the help or support of the U.S.''
But Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, a co-sponsor of the legislation,
acknowledged the measure -- aimed at denouncing the OAS's decision
Wednesday during its gathering in Honduras -- would be difficult to achieve.
''Even though I support it, I'm not going to promise too much in terms
of results,'' Diaz-Balart said, noting that it is difficult to de-fund
international organizations that members of Congress disagree with.
Mack's office, though, said he was looking for a Senate sponsor for his
legislation, which would prevent the White House from funding the OAS
until it certified that Cuba had made democratic reforms.
New Jersey Democrat Sen. Robert Menendez didn't say whether he would
sponsor such a bill, but told reporters Thursday that if the OAS allowed
Cuba back in the fold without the government in Havana demonstrating a
commitment to democracy, ``then I seriously would have to question why
the U.S. government would want to pay 60 percent of an organization that
is not committed to democracy, human rights and the rule of law.''
The State Department has asked for $47.1 million for the OAS in its 2010
budget request -- nearly 60 percent of the 34-country organization's budget.
Explaining its budget request last month to Congress, the department
noted that the OAS ``works with hemispheric partners to advance U.S.
priorities in the areas of trade, security and democracy.''
And it said that the OAS ''will remain a strong voice for democratic
transition in Cuba,'' and that U.S. withdrawal from the group ``could
severely compromise OAS programs that advance U.S. strategic objectives.''
The move comes as the Obama administration seeks to improve relations
with Cuba and it prompted conflicting views in the region, in Miami and
among Cuba observers, still divided over how to handle the country.
Cuban National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcón called the move to
lift the 1962 suspension a ''major victory,'' but added that Cuba still
has no plans to ask to rejoin the group, the Voice of America reported
Thursday.
OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza said the organization hadn't
received any official word from Havana.
''What is the next step for us? Nothing,'' Insulza said. ``We did what
was best for the OAS -- what was best for the OAS was lifting that
sanction.''
Dan Restrepo, special assistant to the president and senior director for
Western Hemisphere affairs at the National Security Council, suggested
after the OAS meeting Wednesday night that ''upon time and reflection''
critics of the decision would ``recognize that we did exactly what we
stated we would do here, which was stand up for the core values of
democracy and human rights.''
The resolution met with mixed reviews in Miami, with those who favor
isolating the Cuban government saying it serves to benefit countries
like Venezuela, which under President Hugo Chávez helped lead the effort
to bring Cuba back to the OAS.
''We should not overlook the fact that there is an intense effort on the
part of the Chávez bloc to redefine democracy in the region and to
define Cuba as a different democracy, not the human rights-violating
dictatorship that it is,'' said Orlando Gutierrez, a member of the Cuban
Democratic Directorate and a pro-democracy activist.
But Carlos Saladrigas, the chairman of the Cuba Study Group, an exile
group that backs greater contact with Cuba, called the move ``incredibly
strategic.''
''From the point of view of the OAS, the next step is to wait,''
Saladrigas said. ''All of this is putting an amount of pressure
internally, and that is the type of pressure . . . that can force
change'' on the island.
William Leogrande, a Cuba expert at American University, suggested the
outcome was a ''perfect compromise'' -- with both the United States and
its ''antagonists,'' chiefly the leftist governments of Venezuela,
Bolivia and Nicaragua -- declaring victory.
''What the U.S. achieved is not to isolate itself, not to create
animosity but to set the stage for having a discussion about democracy
and that was the best outcome the U.S. could have hoped for,'' Leogrande
said, noting that if the United States had failed to accept a compromise
it would have left ``with a resolution that made no mention of any
underlying principles and with the creation of deep animosity toward the
U.S.''
Miami Herald staff writers Frances Robles and Robert Samuels contributed
to this report.
Cuba critics want to punish the OAS - Front Page - MiamiHerald.com (4
June 2009)
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/front-page/story/1082386.html
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