Are the days of the Organization of American States (OAS) numbered? The question was to be at the heart of the debates at the summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), scheduled for Saturday, September 18 in Mexico City.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (“AMLO”) suggests replacing the OAS with a body “Truly autonomous” from Washington. The emancipatory initiative would reshuffle the maps of the continent’s geopolitics. But it seems risky and risky for Mexico, very dependent on its powerful American neighbor.
The arrival, Friday evening in Mexico, of the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, created the surprise while its vice-president, Delcy Rodriguez, confirmed, four hours earlier, that she represented his country. “AMLO” had welcomed, the day before, with great pomp Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, guest of honor at the Mexican patriotic festivities on September 16, a first. The opportunity for “AMLO” to call his American counterpart, Joe Biden, at “Lift the embargo against Cuba, because no state has the right to subjugate another country”. The center-left president calls for the creation of a new regional body that is not ” nobody’s lackey “. His diplomatic offensive disavows the OAS, headquartered in Washington, on behalf of “The defense of the sovereignty of nations and of equity between them” in the face of American interventionism.
The OAS is indeed perceived by many Latin Americans as an instrument of interference from Washington. It is the only body that brings together all the countries of the continent, with the exception of Cuba, excluded since 1962, and Venezuela, which gave up its seat in 2019. The two countries are, however, part of the thirty-three members of Celac, an organization that does not include the United States or Canada. From Mr. Diaz-Canel to the Peruvian, Pedro Castillo, via the Bolivian Luis Arce, sixteen presidents will be at the meeting of Celac on Saturday, of which Mexico is the rotating presidency.
“Similar to the European Union”
At its inception, in 1948, the OAS was dedicated to countering the spread of communism. Times have changed according to Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard: “We are proposing a new organization, built in agreement with the United States, for the XXIe century and no longer the Cold War era. “
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