U.S. Embarrasses Itself Over Cuba

President Obama attended the latest meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) last weekend in Cartagena, Colombia. It was hoped that the meeting could help smooth over some differences between the United States and some other countries of the Americas. It did not. It just made the United States look more like a pariah nation than ever before.

The issue dividing the United States (and Canada) from all the other nations in the OAS was Cuba. Shortly after Castro came to power in Cuba, that country was kicked out of the OAS. But that was a different time -- a time when the United States could bully the other nations of the OAS into following their lead. Times have changed.

Now, with the exception of the United States and Canada, the OAS countries want Cuba to be invited to again participate in their meetings -- even the most conservative OAS members, like Colombia, are now demanding Cuba's participation. Some countries (Ecuador, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Bolivia, and several Caribbean nations) are now saying they will not attend any future meetings of the OAS unless Cuba is there.

President Obama refuses to allow the participation of Cuba in the OAS -- a move that could effectively destroy the organization and short-circuit the good it could accomplish in the future. He says it is because "had not taken steps toward democracy". I am a supporter of the president, but I must say that is a stupid statement. The United States supports, talks to, and maintains normal relations with many countries who are not democracies (like China, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and many others).

There is no logical reason to treat Cuba any different. First, it is none of our business what kind of government Cuba has, any more than it's Cuba's business what kind of government we have in the United States. Whatever happened to our belief that each country has the right to "self-determination", without outside interference?

It is time to admit that our policy toward Cuba has been a dismal failure. Most of the other countries in the world have normalized relations with Cuba (even the countries we consider to be our "friends"). The United States should allow Cuba to rejoin the OAS -- and it should also stop the ridiculous boycott and normalize relations with Cuba. That's not just reasonable -- it's the right thing to do.