CUBA: Praises and Reproaches for OAS Over Helms-Burton Law

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Jun 16 1996 (IPS) - Cuba has applauded the move by the Organization of American States (OAS) in condemning the U.S. Helms- Burton law but Havana officials remain cool to the workings of the regional group.

There were praises for the “decorum, dignity and courage” of OAS members in Panama last week, but there were still reproaches over Cuba’s 1962 expulsion from the organisation in 1962 because the government here was “incompatible” with the inter-American system.

Granma, the official publication of the governing Communist Party, said that Cuba’s differences with the OAS should not obscure the fact that ambassadors demonstrated decorum and courage in opposing the Helms-Burton law which extended sanctions against Havana.

According to Granma, the 26th OAS General Assembly’s rejection of the Helms-Burton legislation was “one of the most resounding defeats experienced by the United States in the 20th century.” Approved by President Bill Clinton on March 12, the law strengthens the economic blockade against Cuba through the application of sanctions against third countries that do business with Havana.

The new regulations, long pushed by the most conservative sectors of the U.S. political spectrum, were approved following the downing by Cuban military planes of two small civilian airplanes flown by “Brothers to the Rescue,” as organization of exiled Cubans. The law provides for the end of U.S. aid to the countries and organizations that trade or collaborate with Cuba.

Foreign enterprises trading with Fidel Castro’s government may lose the right to enter United States territory, and U.S. courts may pursue business people trading in properties expropriated from U.S. citizens.

On the other hand, the decision by the OAS, following similar declarations by the European Union, the Rio Group, the Latin- American Parliament, the Latin-American Economic Union and the Association of Caribbean States was called “surprising” by the spokesman of the Cuban delegate, Miguel Alfonso.

Under the resolution of the OAS, member-states are called upon to “abstain from political practices, actions or measures that defend a project are reached unilaterally.”

While not creating an extra-territorial law, this resolution is seen by some experts as unwise, in so far as hoped-for changes in the Cuban system are less likely to be responsive to isolation than to rapprochement.

“Cuba is especially allergic to any perceived attempt at imposing restrictive conditions,” Alfonso declared, while stating that his country is “conscious of the changes that have happened in the regional organization.”