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Vindication of Cuba
Beyond the OAS
Nidia Diaz
THE General Assembly of the Organization of American
States (OAS) has revoked without conditions the
sanction of Cuba’s expulsion from that body imposed
by the U.S. government 47 years ago in the
disastrous Punta del Este Meeting of Consultation of
Foreign Ministers. This is not only a resounding
victory for the steadfast resistance of the Cuban
people over almost half a century, but also evidence
of the extent and fortitude of changes that have
taken place in Latin America and the Caribbean,
transforming the political map of this former
“backyard” of U.S. imperialism, while demonstrating
the decadence and irremediable loss of political
influence and possibilities of pressure and coercion
that have characterized Washington’s relations with
the countries of the region to date.
The results of the OAS Assembly in San Pedro Sula,
Honduras, and the way in which events developed and
led to that historic resolution also exposed how the
U.S. presence in any forum bringing together the
Latin American and Caribbean nations turns into an
obstacle and an element of coercion and threats, in
the not-at-all-changed proposition of utilizing them
to back and justify the empire’s invariably
egotistic interests.
The need for the Latin American and Caribbean
countries to have their own ambit for deliberation,
integration and the defense of their shared
interests is becoming more evident with every
passing day – and reached its maximum expression in
San Pedro Sula – while, without any doubt, the
administration in power in the United States will
continue maintaining the OAS and contributing 60% of
its budget, for as long as it is needed as an
instrument of domination.
The brilliant speech made by Honduran President
Manuel Zelaya during the closing session can be
considered an anthological piece that crystallized,
in direct and clear language, the will of the Latin
American and Caribbean peoples for real sovereignty
and to win their second independence. Zelaya
referred to the very founding constitution of the
OAS in order to clearly state the unalienable right
of any nation to embrace the political regime that
it freely adopts without interference of any kind,
thus evidencing the fallacy of those attempting to
impose just one kind of democracy and just one kind
of society on our peoples; and he paid respectful
and admiring tribute to the people of Cuba, the
Cuban Revolution and its leader, Fidel Castro for
the example of resistance and dignity given to
America and to the world, without which this outcome
could not have been possible.
Although the U.S. government and its media
corporations are trying to negate or conceal it, the
resolution on Cuba adopted in this General Assembly
paradoxically highlights the manifest contradictions
between the OAS charter – the founding and basic
document of that organization – and other statements
and agreements that it has adopted in the ensuing
years under yanki pressure and with the complicity
of puppet governments and military dictatorships,
such as the oft-mentioned Inter-American Democratic
Charter of 2001, whose exclusive and prescriptive
content in fact negates the very founding document
it purports to recognize.
In this way, the recently arrived Obama
administration has received an unforgettable lesson
on what the unity, firmness and dignity of the Latin
American and Caribbean nations can do, when they
include governments that have decided to represent
and defend the peoples’ most genuine interests. In
particular those that are part of the Bolivarian
Alternative for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA),
which played such an outstanding role in that
Assembly and in the whole process that led to its
results, merit a special mention.
After almost 50 years, and contrary to the
intentions of the imperial regime and its sustained
policy of blockade, aggression, sabotage and
terrorism throughout all that period, it has been
precisely the Cuban Revolution that has propitiated,
with this San Pedro Sula vindication, the
confirmation that a new stage is opening up for the
Latin American and Caribbean nations, one which
Washington is unable to prevent in the midst of its
acute moral, economic and social crisis.
The words contained in the Second Declaration of
Havana, approved by the people of Cuba in the Plaza
de la Revolución as long ago as February 4, 1962, in
response to the infamous OAS sanction in Punta del
Este, were premonitory.
The Cuban Revolution has reached this moment
resolute and upstanding, without making one single
concession and attached to the defense of its
principles, in the face of all the acts of
aggression and adversities, following the historic
course bequeathed by the national heroes of a nation
that has always had to confront the most powerful
interests that sought to absorb and destroy it.
As President Zelaya noted, the great merit of this
just vindication belongs to the heroic Cuban people
and the leadership of Fidel Castro, who has headed
this struggle with decisiveness and audacity, with
intelligence and wisdom, and also to all those in
any part of the Americas who have died in pursuit of
the Second Independence that is now visible and is
calling us to continue defending it.
The way opened in San Pedro Sula obviously goes
beyond the OAS.•
Translated by Granma International
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