WASHINGTON – The Organisation of American States (OAS) on Wednesday announced it had postponed its debate on the “current situation” in Cuba after several Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries raised concerns about the procedure used to convene the special meeting.
A brief statement on the OAS website said that the “Permanent Council of the Organisation of American States (OAS) postponed the special virtual meeting scheduled for today to address the situation in Cuba”.
Thirteen CARICOM countries said they had taken note of a special meeting of the Permanent Council of the OAS to address “The Situation in Cuba” and wrote to the Chair of the Council, Washington Abdala, regarding the matter.
In their July 27 letter, signed by the Antigua and Barbuda’s Permanent Representative, Sir Ronald Sanders, the regional countries noted that “our delegations collectively reiterate the position, previously expressed by Antigua and Barbuda, by formal letter of July 26th that since 1962 Cuba has not been a member of the OAS and has not participated in any of its activities”.
The letter noted that although efforts had been made to get Cuba back into the organisation including the passage of a resolution in 2009 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”, Cuba has made no effort to re-join the Organisation and has publicly said that it will not do so.
“It is the considered opinion of our delegations that the proposed convocation of this meeting, which has been called without consultation, would be unproductive and would serve no useful purpose.
“All 13 of our delegations urge you to reconsider holding the meeting and advise that should you decide to proceed, our delegations will be obliged not to attend,” the letter stated, adding that “we request that this letter be distributed to all member states urgently”.
The countries named in the letter are Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Bahamas, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, St Lucia, St Kitts-Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago (CMC)
