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OAS REVOKES RESOLUTION SUSPENDING MEMBERSHIP OF CUBA IN THE INTER-AMERICAN SYSTEM

San Pedro Sula, Honduras – The General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) revoked Thursday Resolution Six of the Eighth Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs held in Punta del Este, Uruguay, January 22-31, 1962, which decided the “Exclusion of the Present Government of Cuba from Participation in the Inter-American System”.

The Resolution unanimously acclaimed Thursday says that “Resolution Six, adopted on January 31, 1962, at the Eighth Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, which excluded the Government of Cuba from its participation in the Inter-American system, hereby ceases to have effect in the Organization of American States.”

The 34 Heads of Delegation of the 34 OAS Member States decided in the same document that “the participation of the Republic of Cuba in the OAS will be the result of a process of dialogue initiated at the request of the Government of Cuba, and in accordance with the practices, purposes, and principles of the OAS.”

In its preliminary considerations, the historic Resolution highlights that the decision by the General Assembly has been “guided by the purposes and principles of the Organization of American States embodied in the Charter of the Organization and in its other fundamental instruments related to security, democracy, self-determination, nonintervention, human rights, and development”, also considering “the open-mindedness that characterized the dialogue of the Heads of State and Government at the Fifth Summit of the Americas, in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.”

This is the full text of the Resolution:



RESOLUTION ON CUBA

(Approved during the third plenary session held on June 3, 2009)


THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

RECOGNIZING the shared interest in the full participation of all the member states;

GUIDED by the purposes and principles of the Organization of American States (OAS) embodied in the Charter of the Organization and in its other fundamental instruments related to security, democracy, self-determination, nonintervention, human rights, and development;

CONSIDERING the open-mindedness that characterized the dialogue of the Heads of State and Government at the Fifth Summit of the Americas, in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, and that in that same spirit the member states wish to establish a revitalized and ample framework of cooperation in hemispheric relations; and

BEARING IN MIND that, pursuant to Article 54 of the OAS Charter, the General Assembly is the supreme organ of the Organization,

RESOLVES:

1. That Resolution VI, adopted on January 31, 1962, at the Eighth Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, which excluded the Government of Cuba from its participation in the Inter-American system, hereby ceases to have effect in the Organization of American States (OAS).

2. That the participation of the Republic of Cuba in the OAS will be the result of a process of dialogue initiated at the request of the Government of Cuba, and in accordance with the practices, purposes, and principles of the OAS.

Reference: GA-12-09