Cuban Relations With The Organization of American States - Punta Del Este Gathering

Punta Del Este Gathering

On 21 January 1962, the OAS held the Eighth Meeting of Consultation of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Punta del Este, Uruguay. The United States had encouraged Central American representatives to advocate a hard line against Cuba, and to walk out if sanctions were not tabled. Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Bolivia and Ecuador were opposed to sanctions, Uruguay and Haiti were uncertain. United States Secretary of State Dean Rusk was hopeful that 14 votes, two thirds of the council would suffice to ensure U.S. policy in the region. After initial talks, the foreign minister of Haiti had a series of private discussions with the U.S. party. As a result, the U.S. agreed to resume aid to the nation in return for their support of sanctions against Cuba. Aid to Haiti had been suspended following the rise of the authoritarian autocrat François Duvalier.

Argentina proposed a compromise that would see Cuba expelled from the organization. The proposal would also be supplemented by partial economic sanctions and the establishment of a special security committee. This was accepted by the U.S. who agreed to defend the new scheme. In his key speech to the organization, Dean Rusk stated that Cuba's alignment with the Sino-Soviet block was incompatible with the inter-American system, and such measures were imperative.

Though only 14 nations voted explicitly to exclude Cuba from the organization, all twenty republics supported the declaration forwarded by the U.S. Seventeen states voted to suspend arms sales to Cuba, 16 voted to follow this with a trade embargo, and 19 voted to create a Committee of Experts to combat "Cuba's subversive activities".