By Roger NoriegaAt a cost of about $100 million annually, regional diplomats gather at conferences of the Organization of American States (OAS) to draft solemn documents committing member governments to improve the quality of life of the people of the Americas.
The Inter-American Democratic Charter, signed on the fateful day of September 11, 2001, was considered an historic achievement. Foreign ministers who met in Lima to sign the accord congratulated themselves on being the first such Hemisphere community committed not just to the recognition of democracy but to the promotion of democracy and respect for human rights. I know. I was there. I signed the document on behalf of the United States of America.
Negotiated by regional leaders, the Democratic Charter explicitly endorses access to and the free exercise of power in accordance with the rule of law; the holding of periodic, free, and fair elections based on secret balloting and universal suffrage; pluralistic system of political parties and organizations; freedom of expression and of the press; etc. Violations of these principles were declared to be an obstacle to a government’s participation in the OAS.
Seven short years later, most of the delegations are prepared to shovel those principles to the side of the road for the most meager of reasons: to make room in this so-called democratic club for a Stalinist dictatorship clinging to power in Cuba. The United States is among a handful of countries insisting that Cuba’s readmission come within the framework of the Organization’s own rules of the game, set forth in the Democratic Charter.
True, the world has changed since Cuba was suspended over years ago. The Americas have changed, because the people themselves reclaimed their democracies – sometimes struggling against military governments that were supported by the United States during the Cold War. The United States has changed, too – conferring legitimacy and respect on governments that are elected freely by their people, regardless of their ideology. For the Inter-American Community to set aside the solidarity of the Hemisphere to satisfy the demands of the region’s only unelected leader would be an act of infamy. For the region’s leaders to administer this humiliation to President Obama just as he has extended a hand of friendship and respect is an act of self-immolation.
The OAS’s own human rights commission has routinely reported on the current regime’s systematic violation of all of the precepts of representative democracy and of universally recognized human rights. The only Cubans who have made their voices heard to the OAS’s leadership have pleaded that the regional community not recognize the Cuban dictatorship.
What moral authority will the Organization have to act in the case of a coup d’etat or stolen election? Is it not the sad truth that the very leaders who have stolen elections, led coups, and toppled democratic government in recent decades and years are sequestering the OAS from the unfortunate people who might need it one day?
If the OAS abandons its principles without a full debate or the traditional consensus, without a dialogue with the Cuban people, without a sober regional appraisal of the reality on the island, it will not be the Cuban dictator’s fault. It will be the willful act of democracies that chose solidarity with a decrepit regime in summary disregard for the legitimate rights and wishes of the Cuban people.
I fervently hope that the U.S. delegation – rather than accept diplomatic nuance that obscures the clear standards of the Democratic Charter – will demand a vote on the measure. That vote in San Pedro Sula will not be about the annulment of Cuba’s suspension in 1962. That vote will not be about a diplomatic triumph by a dictatorship that is, after all, drawing its last breaths. That vote will not be about the value of a $100 million Organization that so casually violates its fundamental principles and sheds any pretense that it speaks for the people of the region who bear the cost of the feckless forum.
That vote will be about which country or countries voted to reserve Cuba’s seat at the OAS for a legitimate, elected representative of the Cuban people. The United States should be prepared to stand alone with hundreds of millions of people in the region who struggle for governments that serve their interests and protect their liberty – only 11 million of whom live in Cuba.
The author was U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of American States from 2001-2003. He is a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and founder of Vision Americas LLC.
The Inter-American Democratic Charter, signed on the fateful day of September 11, 2001, was considered an historic achievement. Foreign ministers who met in Lima to sign the accord congratulated themselves on being the first such Hemisphere community committed not just to the recognition of democracy but to the promotion of democracy and respect for human rights. I know. I was there. I signed the document on behalf of the United States of America.
Negotiated by regional leaders, the Democratic Charter explicitly endorses access to and the free exercise of power in accordance with the rule of law; the holding of periodic, free, and fair elections based on secret balloting and universal suffrage; pluralistic system of political parties and organizations; freedom of expression and of the press; etc. Violations of these principles were declared to be an obstacle to a government’s participation in the OAS.
Seven short years later, most of the delegations are prepared to shovel those principles to the side of the road for the most meager of reasons: to make room in this so-called democratic club for a Stalinist dictatorship clinging to power in Cuba. The United States is among a handful of countries insisting that Cuba’s readmission come within the framework of the Organization’s own rules of the game, set forth in the Democratic Charter.
True, the world has changed since Cuba was suspended over years ago. The Americas have changed, because the people themselves reclaimed their democracies – sometimes struggling against military governments that were supported by the United States during the Cold War. The United States has changed, too – conferring legitimacy and respect on governments that are elected freely by their people, regardless of their ideology. For the Inter-American Community to set aside the solidarity of the Hemisphere to satisfy the demands of the region’s only unelected leader would be an act of infamy. For the region’s leaders to administer this humiliation to President Obama just as he has extended a hand of friendship and respect is an act of self-immolation.
The OAS’s own human rights commission has routinely reported on the current regime’s systematic violation of all of the precepts of representative democracy and of universally recognized human rights. The only Cubans who have made their voices heard to the OAS’s leadership have pleaded that the regional community not recognize the Cuban dictatorship.
What moral authority will the Organization have to act in the case of a coup d’etat or stolen election? Is it not the sad truth that the very leaders who have stolen elections, led coups, and toppled democratic government in recent decades and years are sequestering the OAS from the unfortunate people who might need it one day?
If the OAS abandons its principles without a full debate or the traditional consensus, without a dialogue with the Cuban people, without a sober regional appraisal of the reality on the island, it will not be the Cuban dictator’s fault. It will be the willful act of democracies that chose solidarity with a decrepit regime in summary disregard for the legitimate rights and wishes of the Cuban people.
I fervently hope that the U.S. delegation – rather than accept diplomatic nuance that obscures the clear standards of the Democratic Charter – will demand a vote on the measure. That vote in San Pedro Sula will not be about the annulment of Cuba’s suspension in 1962. That vote will not be about a diplomatic triumph by a dictatorship that is, after all, drawing its last breaths. That vote will not be about the value of a $100 million Organization that so casually violates its fundamental principles and sheds any pretense that it speaks for the people of the region who bear the cost of the feckless forum.
That vote will be about which country or countries voted to reserve Cuba’s seat at the OAS for a legitimate, elected representative of the Cuban people. The United States should be prepared to stand alone with hundreds of millions of people in the region who struggle for governments that serve their interests and protect their liberty – only 11 million of whom live in Cuba.
The author was U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of American States from 2001-2003. He is a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and founder of Vision Americas LLC.
Good story
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