SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras, (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton battled a barrage of criticism yesterday from Latin American leaders demanding Cuba’s re-entry, over U.S. objections, to the Organization of American States.
At a meeting in Honduras of the 34-member hemispheric group, the refusal of the United States to support Cuba’s return to the OAS was condemned as a dying vestige of U.S. domination in the region.
Clinton met privately with a small group of ministers trying to forge a compromise on Cuba, and reaffirmed Havana should not return to the OAS until it embraces democratic principles and makes progress on human rights issues and the release of political prisoners
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She headed to the airport late yesterday for a flight to Cairo, where she will join President Barack Obama, without a group agreement on how to proceed on Cuba.
“At this moment there is no consensus and there is no agreement to take any action,” Clinton told reporters before she left. “Since we don’t agree with the barebones proposal, if there is no action that’s fine with us.”
The OAS suspended Cuba in 1962 after Fidel Castro’s revolution steered the island toward communism and a close alliance with the Soviet Union. Cuba has said it is uninterested in rejoining the group.
“We cannot leave San Pedro Sula without correcting that other day that will live in infamy,” Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said of the decision to boot Cuba. “It’s time to correct that mistake.”
Failure to rescind the suspension of Cuba would make Latin American nations “accomplices” in the decision, said Zelaya, who has moved closer to Venezuela’s socialist leader Hugo Chavez since taking power in 2006.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega told a news conference the OAS “was created as an instrument of American political domination and expansionism in Latin America and the Caribbean.”He played down Obama’s recent overtures toward Cuba and the region. “He has shown goodwill but he’s trapped. The president has changed but not American policy,” Ortega said.
Clinton did not address the OAS assembly in public, but met with ministers from nine countries trying to find a way to reach consensus on Cuba’s re-entry and avoid a showdown vote that could antagonize either side.
“We are not interested in fighting old battles or living in the past,” she said in the text of a speech prepared for delivery to the group. “At the same time, we will always defend the timeless principles of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.”
Senior U.S. officials said many countries at the meeting were not interested in sidetracking recent U.S. overtures to Cuba.
Obama has pledged to engage Cuba and taken steps toward a more open relationship, lifting restrictions two months ago on travel and remittances to Cuba for Cuban-Americans with relatives on the island.
On Sunday, the administration announced Cuba had accepted its invitations to resume meetings on migration between the two countries, ended by President George W. Bush, and to discuss the resumption of direct mail between the two countries.
But Obama has continued to support the decades-old embargo on the island, saying it can be used to exert pressure for change on Cuba.The U.S. stance on Cuba has left it increasingly isolated in the region as Latin American countries have restored diplomatic relations with Cuba and pushed for an end to the decades-old U.S. embargo.
New President Mauricio Funes of El Salvador, the last country in the region without Cuban ties, renewed diplomatic relations with the island nation on Monday shortly after his inaugural.
“We do look forward to the day when Cuba can rejoin the OAS, but we believe that membership in the OAS must come with responsibilities,” Clinton told Caribbean foreign ministers. “I’m confident we can come up with a common way forward.”
The working group was trying to meld four different resolutions that ranged from lifting Cuba’s suspension to a U.S. proposal to talk about its re-entry if it commits to democratic principles, officials said.
Kenneth Baugh, Jamaica’s foreign minister, said there had been “very positive movement” on Cuba from the United States recently.
“We have the audacity to hope that we meet in the context of a renewed spirit of engagement,” he said, borrowing one of Obama’s signature phrases.
