Organization of American States: What Ukraine is Watching

The creation of any international organization is preceded by a certain stimulus - a situation or process that dominates the world or a part of it. Over time, the stimulus disappears, and the organization faces a choice: to disappear or to adapt to new circumstances. However, in the case of international organizations, there is also a third quite popular way: to simply leave everything as it is. It seems that the Organization of American States belongs to those who are currently following the third path.

General characteristics of the Organization of American States

Membership in the OAS

Structure of the OAS

Activities of the OAS

US coups and military operations against countries of the American continent

The OAS and Ukraine

Conclusions

General Characteristics of the Organization of American States

The Organization of American States (hereinafter - OAS) is an international organization that emerged shortly after the end of World War II to unite the countries of North and South America. The OAS is a forum for political discussion and analysis, as well as a decision-making body in the interests of the Western Hemisphere. The organization is headquartered in Washington, DC. The official languages of the OAS are English, Spanish, Portuguese and French.

The OAS headquarters in Washington, DC. Photo: Wikipedia

The predecessor of the OAS is the International Union of American Republics, which was founded in 1890 at the first International Conference of American States. The OAS itself was created at the ninth conference, held in Bogota in 1948. 21 countries from North and South America signed the Charter of the new organization. Interestingly, Canada, which played a significant role in the predecessor organization, was not among the founders. At the stage of developing plans for the creation of the OAS, the United States began to fear that the United Kingdom would gain influence in the new organization due to its close relations with Canada. On the eve of the OAS creation, the United States changed its mind, but Canada refocused on Europe and did not express a desire to join the organization. Canada's admission to the OAS took place only in 1990. Belize and Guyana were the last to join the organization in 1991.

Membership in the OAS

Any independent country of North or South America, voted for by 2/3 of the members of the General Assembly, can become a member of the OAS. According to the Charter, if the democratic government of a country is overthrown by force, its membership may be suspended by 2/3 of the votes at the General Assembly. Temporary suspension means that the state's representatives cannot participate in the work of the organization's bodies, but the state must still comply with all agreements and rules signed as part of its membership. Finally, a country can apply to the General Secretariat and leave the organization permanently two years later.

The OAS official website states that "All 35 independent countries of the Americas have ratified the OAS Charter and belong to the organization." However, this figure needs to be clarified. In early 1962, the member states, under the influence of the United States, voted to suspend Cuba's membership. The OAS resolution stated that adherence to Marxism-Leninism was incompatible with the inter-American system. In 2009, the General Assembly decided to lift the suspension, but Cuba refused to resume its work in the OAS. At the same time, Cuba has never left the organization through an official procedure.

In 2009, due to the coup d'état in Honduras, the country's membership was temporarily suspended, but in 2011 it was reinstated after former President Manuel Zelaya returned to the country.

Voting to suspend Honduras' membership. Photo: Wikipedia

In 2017, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro set a course to withdraw from the OAS. The following year, the country held elections in which the president was re-elected. However, the election results were met with mixed reactions both in the country and in the world. The National Assembly announced its intention to declare Haun Guaido president. The OAS General Assembly also recognized Guaido's presidency. Juan Guaido asked the OAS to forget about the procedure for withdrawal from the organization, and the National Assembly sent its representative, Gustav Tarre, to the OAS. In October 2022, a number of countries sympathetic to Nicolas Maduro put forward a proposal to end Tarre's representation in the OAS, but the decision did not receive 2/3 of the votes. The next elections in Venezuela are due in 2024, and the OAS and other international organizations have already condemned the ban on the main opposition candidate from running.

Juan Guaido in January 2019. Photo: Wikipedia

In November 2021, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega was elected to his post for the fourth time. The OAS Permanent Council voted to condemn the election as having been held with serious violations of procedure. In response, Nicaragua launched a process of withdrawal from the organization, which was successfully completed in November 2023.

Thus, given the fact that Cuba has never launched an official procedure for withdrawal from the OAS and is formally a member, the organization currently includes 34 countries.

The OAS on the world map. Infographic: Wikipedia

Structure of the OAS

TheGeneral Assembly (hereinafter referred to as the GA) is the main body of the OAS, which consists of delegates from all member states. The GA meets annually. The body determines the organization's policy and action plan, the structure and functions of other bodies, promotes relations with international organizations, etc.

The Permanent Council (hereinafter - PC) consists of permanent representatives of each state, appointed by governments and holding the rank of ambassador. The PR closely monitors the preservation of friendly relations between member states, for which it assists in organizing discussions. Between the sessions of the GA, the body makes day-to-day decisions that enable the General Secretariat to carry out its functions. It also implements the decisions of the GA.

The General Secretariat (GS) is the main body responsible for administrative matters. The body is headed by the Secretary General, who is elected for a 5-year term and can be re-elected once. In 2015, Uruguayan lawyer and politician Luis Almagro was elected to the post.

OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro. Photo: Photo.

Activities of the OAS

In 2016, the OAS and the government of Honduras signed an agreement under which a mission to fight corruption and impunity began operating in the country. The mission investigates cases involving corruption networks and focuses on strengthening and reforming institutions that would prevent these problems.

The Belize-Guatemala Mission is a civilian peacekeeping mission. It provides technical and political assistance in resolving territorial disputes between the countries and facilitates negotiations.

In Colombia, armed conflict has been going on for decades. The mission's task in the country is to provide advice in the process of demobilization and reintegration of illegal armed groups, as well as to support peace efforts made by Colombian institutions and communities.

One of the important areas of the OAS's work is the monitoring of elections in member countries. Since 1962, the OAS has launched more than 240 electoral research missions in 27 countries across the continent. The missions have gradually expanded their methodology to analyze various aspects of the electoral process: gender equality in political campaigns, political finance systems, access to the media, and the participation of indigenous peoples. The organization carries out technical cooperation with its member states, which consists in launching projects that contribute to the modernization and improvement of the quality of services of electoral authorities.

The OAS is making efforts to promote American culture and tourism, for which various projects are being created. In particular, the project "Expanding the Socio-Economic Potential of Cultural Heritage in the Caribbean" focuses on long-term planning for heritage preservation, as well as on engaging the Caribbean population in this initiative in the coming decades.

The OAS pays considerable attention to the fight against terrorism. Among the initiatives of the organization are the following: creation of an inter-American counterterrorism network of 20 countries; regular cybersecurity training; development of 18 national cybersecurity strategies for South America and the Caribbean; development of 4 national strategies for tourism security; creation of national and regional courses and seminars on maritime and port security; provision of security support to 10 member states in organizing major events.

US coups and military operations against countries of the Americas

During the Cold War, the United States conducted a number of operations in North and South America.

In 1944, a revolution took place in Guatemala, after which the country began to pursue a policy independent of the United States. In the early 1950s, Guatemala decided to nationalize agricultural land, paying compensation to foreign companies. In response, the United States launched an information war against Guatemala. In March 1954, at the Tenth International Conference of American States, the United States pressured the Guatemalan government to adopt a "Declaration of Solidarity on the Preservation of the Political Integrity of the American States in the Face of the Intervention of International Communism." In 1954, a successful coup was organized in Guatemala by the CIA, which brought to power the pro-American dictator Carlos Armas.

After the victory of the Cuban Revolution, the United States made repeated attempts to assassinate the country's leader Fidel Castro. In 1961, the U.S. government organized an invasion of the Cuban coast in the Bay of Pigs, but the coup attempt was repelled. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy authorized Operation Mongoose, which included a series of terrorist attacks against civilians in Cuba.

In 1970, the elections in Chile were won by Salvador Allende, who held socialist positions. The new government began nationalizing land and businesses, which affected U.S. businesses that had invested heavily in the Chilean copper smelting industry. In response, the United States began to put pressure on the Chilean economy from various angles, which soon led to its downfall. The decision to overthrow Allende was made by US President Richard Nixon immediately after the Chilean elections. In 1973, General Augusto Pinochet seized power in the country and began mass repression.

Bombing of the presidential palace in Chile in 1973. Photo: Wikipedia

In the mid-1980s, relations between the United States and Panama began to deteriorate. The United States began to put economic and informational pressure on the Central American country. In 1988, the U.S. Department of Justice's Drug Enforcement Administration charged Panama's de facto leader , Manuel Noriega, with drug trafficking and other crimes. In 1989, the US army invaded Panama and arrested Manuel Noriega, which subsequently led to a change of power in the country.

The OAS and Ukraine

Ukraine has been an observer to the OAS since May 1994. Representatives of Ukraine regularly take part in the work of the OAS General Assembly, the Council of Ministers and other OAS bodies. Ukraine is a party to a number of agreements with the OAS. Ukraine's representative to the organization is the Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States. In recent years, Ukraine has been making contributions to the OAS budget to implement projects to promote democracy in the region and combat the effects of the pandemic.

In response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the OAS revoked Russia's permanent observer status with the organization in April 2022. Twenty-five countries voted for this decision, but it was not supported by Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico, among others.

In June 2023, at the OAS General Assembly, 22 countries supported a statement on the need to withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine.

Conclusions

The OAS was formed at a time when World War II had already ended and the beginning of the Cold War was quite obvious. Moreover, at that time, expectations of a "hot" Third World War were quite widespread in the world. Therefore, one of the reasons for the formation of the OAS can be considered the need for cohesion in the Western Hemisphere in the face of the onslaught of communism. The driving force behind the formation of the OAS was the United States, whose authority after the war was sky-high. Except for Canada, the rest of the Western Hemisphere at that time belonged to the "third world". However, it was precisely because of U.S. influence that Canada joined the OAS much later, only at the end of the Cold War. In fact, the OAS became an additional instrument of political pressure for the United States. For example, the OAS could be used to impose a trade embargo on a country, temporarily suspend its membership, or condemn its internal policies. At the same time, if it was necessary to quickly resolve a certain conflict by force, the OAS resolution was not required, which is quite convenient. The goal is not to demonize the United States, because during the Cold War the USSR acted symmetrically, but the fact that the OAS democratic mechanisms were used for manipulative purposes is worth noting.

The end of the Cold War could well have been the end of the OAS, as the most significant episode in the organization's life during this period was the temporary suspension of Cuba's membership on the eve of the Cuban Missile Crisis. However, the unification of all the countries of the Western Hemisphere could be useful for discussing common important issues, so the organization continued to exist. It should be noted that the monolithic nature of the OAS was gradually lost. Initially, this monolithicity was achieved through the unquestioned authority of the United States, but in the second half of the Cold War, the opinion of the North American country was no longer perceived as truth during voting. The member states had the opportunity to repeatedly see that their opinions on conflicts and key issues did not always matter. At the turn of the century, a number of Third World countries began to emerge from the shadows. In particular, this is true of Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, and Mexico.

At the same time, the United States has repeatedly emphasized who is the dominant force in the unipolar world. New grievances of the last century were added to the old ones, so a significant part of the former Third World countries began to look for a different vector of power. In the last ten years, the authority of international organizations has increased, with China, Russia, and Arab countries occupying key positions. Venezuela is a member of OPEC, Mexico is a member of OPEC+, and Brazil is a member of BRICS, which was not joined but was invited by Argentina. It can be argued that these organizations take a geopolitical position antagonistic to the United States. It is also worth emphasizing that the US relations with a number of key Western Hemisphere countries are far from friendly.

The OAS remains a very convenient forum for discussing key issues, where representatives of almost all Western Hemisphere countries can be found. However, this forum brings together countries with very different interests that no longer want to recognize the indisputable authority of the United States and react aggressively to interference in their internal affairs. Cuba did not want to return to work in the OAS, Nicaragua has completed the procedure for withdrawal from the organization, and Venezuela has almost left. Obviously, the need for membership in the OAS is now in question. The vector of the organization's development is also unclear in the absence of high-profile joint projects.

Олег Пархітько