Dissident organization slammed OAS members for refusing to discuss Cuban crisis

Cuban activist Rosa Maria Paya criticized the members of the Organization of American States (OAS) who opposed the treatment of the crisis in Cuba within the framework of an extraordinary session which had been convened this Wednesday, but which had to be postponed before the objection “unusual“From some of its member countries.

“It is a shame for the nations of the Caribbean that it is precisely our closest neighbors who are serving the Cuban regime in its efforts to silence the serious violations being committed in our country.”said the director of the NGO Cuba Decide, who explained that at least 13 member states of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) “refused to listen to the experts of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on the situation. pressing on the island ”. .

“In a letter that ignores the serious events unfolding on the island, Antigua and Barbuda, speaking for the majority of CARICOM, presented legal objections to holding a special session of the Permanent Council to address the situation in Cuba.“, a point.

Delegations which declined to discuss the matter alleged that since 1962, Cuba has not been a member of the OAS. However, the Cuban activist indicated that “the legal argument does not make sense given that the Cuban people have never ceased to be part of the OAS and that the Inter-American Commission maintains its jurisdiction over the Cuban nation. “.

Regarding recent events on the island, he denounced that Castro’s dictatorship “in recent days has beaten demonstrators, detained and made the disappearance of hundreds of Cubans who remain in secret. None of this seems to matter to our neighbors, who this time decided to become an obstacle for the Permanent Council to address the situation on the island. “

“CARICOM will have to decide whether or not to support the rights of his Cuban brothers or will go down in history as an accomplice of dictators“Concluded his statement Rosa María Payá.

The call to analyze the panorama of the Caribbean country after the demonstrations that erupted on July 11 has reopened a long-standing debate around the island which, although it has not been a member of this body since 1962, she has been a protagonist in many of its meetings.

The President of the OAS Permanent Council, Washington Abdala, informed in a letter addressed to the member delegations of the Washington-based body of the postponement of the meeting, for a date yet to be defined, in response to the “proposals in this regard by some countries ”.

Abdala, Permanent Representative of Uruguay, He pointed out as “particularly unusual” that there is an objection to receiving technical reports prepared by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), as provided for in the session’s agenda, although he refrained from specifying the countries or delegations which opposed it.

For this Wednesday the intervention of the President of the IACHR was scheduled, Antonia Urrejola Noguera; the rapporteur of the IACHR for Cuba, Edgar Stuardo Ralón Orellana, and the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Commission, Pedro Vaca Villareal.

The Uruguayan official explained that for this session “No statement has been proposed”Instead, the commissioners will “report”.

“La práctica de rechazar ‘informes in voce’ (” de viva voz ”) no debería tener cabida en esta organización”, se quejó Abdala en la misiva, y apuntó que la “asimetría en las miradas internacionales siempre es lesiva para el respeto de human rights”. “Not knowing what is going on in Cuba does not mean that dramatic events do not continue to happen. Reality, unfortunately, takes its course, it is not hidden behind papers, declarations or delays “, he pointed out.

In any case, he indicated that consultations will take place to finalize the session in the “Shortest possible time” and that he asked the Secretariat for Legal Affairs of this body “A report on the situation in Cuba in relation to the OAS.”

Cuba was excluded from the inter-American system in January 1962 for its adherence to “Marxism-Leninism”, But this decision was rendered without effect for the OAS following a resolution approved on June 3, 2009., during a General Assembly held in San Pedro Sula (Honduras).

However, the Cuban regime has made it clear that he has not asked or wants to come back to the agency.

In consultation with the agency EFE, the representative of Bolivia to the OAS, Hector Arcé, considered that the convening of the extraordinary session raised a situation that this country identified as “wrong” and “does not proceed legally”.

“It is not appropriate for the Organization to deliver or consider reports on a country that is not a member, especially if that country cannot even defend itself, if it is in a defenseless state, because he is not participating, he does not have a representative of Cuba on the Permanent Council. “Arce got stressed.

According to the diplomat, this position, in addition to Bolivia, joined Argentina, Nicaragua and Mexico, as well as several nations of the Caribbean Community (Caricom): “It is a correct position, which defends the legality”, declared the diplomat about the step of his country.

For Arce, the session was postponed with a “very biased and very biased discourse on one of the points of view of the Cuban state”.

The island’s reaction was entrusted to the Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez, who assured on his Twitter account that an “anti-Cuban maneuver” at the OAS was defeated.

“(The) rejection of (the) majority (of) member states forced the suspension of the Permanent Council. (The) President pro tempore of the Council admitted (the) defeat by (a) pathetic letter which offends Cuba. We thank (the) countries that have defended (the) Latin American and Caribbean dignity“, added the head of Cuban diplomacy, without further details.

Cuba was the scene of protests on July 11, at a time when the Caribbean country got bogged down in a serious economic and health crisis, with the pandemic running out of control and a severe shortage of food, medicine and other basic items, in addition to long power cuts.

(With information from EFE)

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