OAS is an embarrasment (Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart)

At the OAS meeting of June 3rd we witnessed an example of the Obama Administration’s diplomatic incompetence and its appeasement of the enemies of the United States. The Administration agreed to violate the OAS Charter and the OAS Inter-American Democratic Charter, in an unmerited betrayal of the oppressed people of Cuba. Chapter II, Article III-d of the Charter of the OAS requires representative democracy in all the countries of our hemisphere, and the Inter-American Democratic Charter carefully spells out the collective steps to be taken when an American republic’s democracy is even threatened. The OAS member States know that Cuba under Castro is the only country in our hemisphere where free elections have not been held in over 50 years and where dungeons are full of non-violent political prisoners. They know that under Castro, Cuba is a personal island-estate, a totalitarian fiefdom, “owned” by one man, with a brother who enjoys the title of head of state and carefully carries out his brother’s orders.

The Obama Administration says the OAS Resolution was a great victory, because even though paragraph one of the “resolved” clause unilaterally lifted the exclusion of the Cuban military dictatorship, in paragraph two the dictatorship was “allowed to initiate a process of dialogue” to reenter the OAS, “in accordance with the practices, purposes, and principles of the OAS.” In others words, in the first sentence the OAS ripped-up and threw in the garbage can the practices, purposes, and principles of the OAS including the OAS Charter and the Interamerican Democratic Charter. And then in the next sentence it invited the Cuban military dictatorship back in, “in accordance with the practices, purposes, and principles of the OAS”.

Some victory.

The American taxpayer should not be paying for almost 60% of the putrid embarrassment which is the OAS.