By VOA News
08 June 2009
Cuba has formally rejected re-joining the Organization of American
States, days after the group revoked Cuba's expulsion from the OAS
nearly 50 years ago.
Cuba's official media published a government statement Monday saying
Cuba's values are incompatible with what it described as the group's
neo-liberal values of capitalism and self-promotion. The statement also
accused the United States of exercising oppressive control over the OAS.
The 34-member OAS voted Wednesday to lift its 1962 suspension of Cuba's
membership -- in place because of Cuba's communist government
suppression of democratic values. The OAS said Cuba's re-entry would be
the result of a "process of dialogue" under the group's "practices,
proposals and principles" - an indirect reference to human-rights
protections and democracy.
Before the OAS decision, Cuban officials said they had no interest in
re-joining the hemispheric group.
In an essay published last week, Former Cuban President Fidel Castro
called the OAS an accomplice to crimes committed against his country.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on the OAS members
assembled in Honduras last week to restore Cuba's membership, only after
political prisoners are released and basic human rights are improved.
Clinton expressed satisfaction with the compromise measure that emerged
from the meeting. She said Cuba can return to the OAS if it decides that
its participation meets the purposes and principles of the organization,
which include democracy and human rights.
VOA News - Cuba Formally Rejects OAS Membership (8 June 2009)
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-06-08-voa33.cfm?rss=politics
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