Press Releases MEXICO CALLS FOR CUBA'S REINSTATEMENT INTO THE OAS
February 4, 1998
One of the primary challenges the Organization of American States (OAS) faces as the 21st century approaches is the reinstatement of Cuba into its ranks, Mexico’s outgoing ambassador to the OAS said today.
In her farewell address to the OAS Permanent Council, Ambassador Carmen Moreno de Del Cueto called on the nations of the hemisphere to create mechanisms, begin consultations and design proposals that will help put an end to the lingering effects of the Cold War. “The parameters have changed, the world has changed, the OAS should also change and be in step with the 21st century,” she said.
Though Cuba is still a member of the OAS, its government been suspended from active participation in the Organization since 1962.
Ambassador Moreno also talked about the role of the OAS today. In order to become the true political forum for the region, she said, the Organization must come away from April’s Summit of the Americas in Santiago, Chile, with a clear political mandate to take the lead on key issues for the hemisphere.
“The future agenda [of the OAS] should be responsive to the concerns of all the nations. Only then can we face the difficult challenges that lie ahead,” she said.
Ambassador Moreno, who has served as her country’s representative to the OAS since January 1995, has been appointed by President Ernesto Zedillo to serve in Mexico’s Foreign Relations Secretariat as deputy secretary for the United Nations, the Middle East and Africa.