Washington is odd man out on Cuba at OAS meeting

The United States should stop standing in the way of Cuba rejoining the Organization of American States.

This week, at the group’s gathering in Honduras, the overwhelming sentiment was for lifting Cuba’s suspension.

But for all its recent talk about moderating U.S. policy toward that nation, the Obama administration would not yield gracefully on this one.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would not abide by a resolution to unconditionally reinstate Cuba into the group, and the 34 members could not come to a compromise position.

The stubbornness on the part of Clinton and President Obama is in contrast to their recent conciliatory statements.

“The United States seeks a new beginning with Cuba,” Obama assured 33 other hemispheric leaders at the Summit of the Americas held April 17-19 in Trinidad and Tobago (Cuba was notably absent).

Only the day before, Clinton went further stating: “We view the present policy as having failed.”

To its credit, the Obama administration has relaxed restrictions on Cuban American travel and the sending of remittances to Cuba.

Most recently, the United States offered to resume immigration talks with Cuba, suspended since 2003. Cuba accepted.

Encouragingly, both Obama and Clinton have voiced their support for increased dialogue with the Cuban leadership.

And by repeatedly acknowledging the failures of previous policies toward Cuba and other nations in Latin America, the United States presents a more humble and introspective image.

So why, at the Honduras meeting, did the Obama administration put in overtime outlining preconditions for Cuba’s eventual reentry?

“Any effort to admit Cuba into the OAS is really in Cuba’s hands,” Clinton said on May 20. “We’ve been very clear about that: Move toward democracy, release political prisoners, respect fundamental freedoms. That is what it means to be a member of the OAS.”

We’ve heard all this before.

Almost exactly one year ago during his annual “Cuban Independence Day” speech on May 21, President Bush said if Cuba wanted to restore relations with the United States, it could start by “implementing meaningful economic reforms, respecting political freedom and human rights … and immediately releasing all prisoners of conscience.”

With only minor changes in policy, the Obama administration is betting it can continue to conduct politics as usual in the hemisphere by simply using more diplomatic language.

This is a bet the United States will lose.

As of June 1st, every OAS member-nation has normal diplomatic ties with Cuba — none the result of Cuban adherence to preconditions concerning Cuba’s internal politics. If the OAS hopes to win its battle against irrelevance (a battle Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa says has already been lost with the advent of regional organizations such as the Rio Group), it must address the previously dominant role of the United States, and operate democratically.

This would entail all members having equal say on critical issues such as how democracy and the rights associated with citizenship are defined.

The United States needs to start acting like one nation among equals in the Organization of American States, instead of like a bully with all the power just because it is the group’s largest financial backer.

When every other member wants to lift the suspension on Cuba, Washington should accept that.

Mutual respect, Madam Secretary, is what it really means to be a member of the OAS.

Marguerite Rose Jimenez is a doctoral student and assistant director of the Council on Latin America at American University in Washington, D.C. She is co-editor of “A Contemporary Cuba Reader: Reinventing the Revolution” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2008), with all book proceeds going to Oxfam’s hurricane relief efforts in Cuba. She can be reached at pmproj [at] progressive [dot] org.