Cuba return to OAS not automatic: Clinton

Cuba return to OAS not automatic: Clinton
20 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Cuba's return to the Organization of American States
will not be automatic, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said
Wednesday after the body voted to lift a 47-year ban on Havana.

"Cuba can come back into the OAS in the future if the OAS decides that
its participation meets the purposes and principles of the organization,
including democracy and human rights," Clinton said in a statement.

In an historic move on Wednesday, the OAS agreed to lift the suspension
on Cuba's membership imposed in 1962 and which barred the island because
of its Marxist orientation.

The new text adopted at the OAS summit in Honduras on Wednesday said
that to complete its readmission Cuba would have to comply with "the
practices, aims and principles of the OAS" which includes the democratic
guidelines set out in its charter.

Clinton had insisted in talks at the Honduras summit that communist-run
Cuba should not be readmitted to the body without pre-conditions
demanding democratic and human rights reforms.

In a marathon talks Tuesday the US delegation appeared to have failed to
broker a deal for Cuba's return.

But Clinton praised OAS officials saying: "The member nations of the OAS
showed flexibility and openness today, and as a result we reached a
consensus that focuses on the future instead of the past.

"I am pleased that everyone came to agree that Cuba cannot simply take
its seat and that we must put Cuba's participation to a determination
down the road -- if it ever chooses to seek reentry.

"If and when the day comes to make that determination, the United States
will continue to defend the principles of the Inter-American Democratic
Charter and other fundamental tenets of the organization."

Alluding to the tough negotiations, Clinton said: "Many member countries
originally sought to lift the 1962 suspension and allow Cuba to return
immediately, without conditions.

"Others agreed with us that the right approach was to replace the
suspension -- which has outlived its purpose after nearly half a century
-- with a process of dialogue and a future decision that will turn on
Cuba's commitment to the organization's values."

Cuba is the Americas' only one-party communist regime, and a harsh OAS
critic. Though political parties other than the Cuban Communist Party
are outlawed in Cuba, Havana maintains Cuba is a democracy, and far less
corrupt than other multiparty governments.

AFP: Cuba return to OAS not automatic: Clinton (4 June 2009)

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