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Weekend Edition April 17-19, 2009

A Brief Comment

The OAS Charter, Cuba and the United States

by NELSON P. VALDÉS

The policy of the United States government with regards to Cuba is a VIOLATION of the Charter of the Organization of American States (OAS). Rather than demand that Cuba should have a "democratic system" [as defined by the United States government], the Trnidad/Tobago Summit of the Americas taking place should point out how the policy followed by every US administration, since 1959, has been a clear violation of the OAS Charter.

Thus, perhaps, the OAS members ought to consider expelling the United States from the organization, rather than ask Cuba to engage in "regime change" in order to join the regional organization.

Here are the pertinent OAS Charter articles:

Article 1

The Organization of American States has no powers other than those expressly conferred upon it by this Charter, none of whose provisions authorizes it to intervene in matters that are within the internal jurisdiction of the Member States.

Article 2

b) To promote and consolidate representative democracy, with due respect for the principle of nonintervention;

Article 3

e) Every State has the right to choose, without external interference, its political, economic, and social system and to organize itself in the way best suited to it, and has the duty to abstain from intervening in the affairs of another State. Subject to the foregoing, the American States shall cooperate fully among themselves, independently of the nature of their political, economic, and social systems;

Article 19

No State or group of States has the right to intervene, directly or indirectly, for any reason whatever, in the internal or external affairs of any other State. The foregoing principle prohibits not only armed force but also any other form of interference or attempted threat against the personality of the State or against its political, economic, and cultural elements.

Source: http://www.oas.org/juridico/English/charter.html

Nelson P Valdés is director of the Cuba-L Project. He is an Emeritus Professor of Sociology.

This commentary was written for Cuba-L Analysis and CounterPunch.