Declaration of the
Revolutionary Government
IN an act of unusual historic significance, the
OAS has just formally buried the shameful resolution
which excluded Cuba from the Inter-American System
in 1962.
That
decision was despicable and illegal, contrary to the
declared aims and principles of the OAS Constitution.
It was, at the same time, consistent with the
trajectory of this organization; with the motive for
which was created, promoted and defended by the
United States. It was consistent with its role as an
instrument of U.S. hegemony in the hemisphere and
with Washington’s capacity to impose its will on
Latin America at the historic moment in which the
Cuban Revolution triumphed.
Today, Latin America and the Caribbean are
experiencing another reality. The decision adopted
at the 39th session of the OAS General is
the fruit of the will of governments more committed
to their peoples, with the region’s real problems
and with a sense of independence that, unfortunately,
did not prevail in 1962. Cuba acknowledges the merit
of the governments that have undertaken to formally
erase that resolution, referred to in that meeting
as "an unburied corpse."
The decision to rescind Resolution 6 of the 8th
OAS Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign
Affairs constitutes an unquestioned disrespect for
the U.S. policy on Cuba followed since 1959. It
pursues the aim of repairing a historic injustice
and is a vindication for the Cuban people and
peoples of the Americas.
Despite the last-minute consensus achieved, that
decision was adopted against Washington’s will and
in the face of intensive moves and pressure exerted
by governments in the region. In that way, it dealt
imperialism a defeat using its very own instrument.
Cuba welcomes with satisfaction this expression
of sovereignty and civic-mindedness, while thanking
those governments which, with a spirit of solidarity,
independence and justice, have defended Cuba’s right
to return to the organization. It also understands
the desire to free the OAS from a stigma that has
remained as a symbol of the organization’s servility.
However, Cuba once again confirms that it will
not return to the OAS.
Since the triumph of the Revolution, the
Organization of American States has played an active
role in Washington’s policy of hostility against
Cuba. It made the economic blockade official, ruled
on the embargo of weapons and strategic products,
and stipulated member countries’ obligatory breaking
off of diplomatic relations with our revolutionary
state. Despite the exclusion in place, over the
years it even tried to keep Cuba under its authority
and to subject it to its own jurisdiction and that
of its specialized agencies. This is an organization
with a role and a trajectory that Cuba repudiates.
The Cuban people were able to resist the
aggressions and the blockade, overcome the
diplomatic, political, and economic isolation, and
face, on their own, without yielding, the persistent
aggressiveness of the most powerful empire known to
the planet.
Today our country enjoys diplomatic relations
with all the countries of the hemisphere apart from
the United States. It is developing broad links of
friendship and cooperation with the majority of them.
Moreover, Cuba has won its full independence and
is marching unstoppably toward a society that is
more just, equitable, and full of solidarity every
day.
It has done so with supreme heroism and sacrifice,
and with the solidarity of the peoples of the
Americas. It shares values that are contrary to
those of neoliberal and egotistical capitalism
promoted by the OAS, and feels that it has the right
and the authority to say "no" to the idea of joining
a body in which the United States still exercises
oppressive control. The peoples and governments of
the region will understand this just position.
Today it can be understood more clearly than in
1962 that it is the OAS that is incompatible with
the most pressing desires of the peoples of Latin
America and the Caribbean, that it is incapable of
representing their values, interests and genuine
yearning for democracy; it is the OAS that has been
unable to solve the problems of inequality,
disparities in wealth, corruption, foreign
intervention, and the predatory actions of
transnational capital. It is the OAS that has
remained silent in the face of the most horrendous
crimes, communes with the interests of imperialism,
and conspires against and subverts governments
genuinely and legitimately constituted with
demonstrable popular support.
The speeches and declarations of San Pedro Sula
have been more than eloquent. Well-founded
criticisms of the organization’s anachronism, given
its divorce from continental realities and its
disgraceful record, cannot be ignored.
The demands to end, once and for all, the
criminal U.S. blockade of Cuba reflect the growing
and unstoppable sentiment of an entire hemisphere.
The spirit of independence represented there by the
many that spoke is the one with which Cuba
identifies.
Aspirations for the integration and coordination
of Latin America and the Caribbean are increasingly
manifest. Cuba is actively participating in, and
proposes continuing to do so, the representative
regional mechanisms of what José Martí called "Our
America," from the Rio Grande to Patagonia,
including all of the Caribbean islands.
Strengthening, expanding and harmonizing those
bodies and groups is the path chosen by Cuba; not
the outlandish illusion of returning to an
organization that does not allow reform and that has
been condemned by history.
The response of the people of Cuba to the
ignominious 8th Meeting of Consultation of Ministers
of Foreign Affairs of the OAS was the Second
Declaration of Havana, approved in a mass assembly
on February 4, 1962 by more than one million Cubans
in the Plaza de la Revolución.
The declaration textually affirmed:
"…Great as was the epic of Latin American
independence, heroic as was that struggle, today's
generation of Latin Americans is called upon to
engage in an epic which is even greater and more
decisive for humanity. For that struggle was for
liberation from Spanish colonial power, from a
decadent Spain invaded by Napoleon’s armies. Today
the call for struggle is for liberation from the
most powerful imperial metropolis in the world, from
the most important force in the imperialist world
and to render humanity an even greater service than
that rendered by our predecessors.
"…For this great humanity has said, "Enough!" and
has begun to march. And its march of giants will not
be halted until they conquer real independence, for
which they have died in vain more than once."
We will be loyal to these ideas which have made
it possible for our people to maintain Cuba free,
sovereign and independent.
Havana, June 8, 2009