OAS plenary votes to end Cuba's exclusion

The 39th General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) holds its plenary session in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, June 3, 2009. The OAS on Wednesday reached an agreement to readmit Cuba, excluded since 1962, without conditions. (Xinhua/Jairo Cajina)

Delegates applaud after the Organization of American States (OAS) general assembly reached an agreement to readmit Cuba during its plenary session in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, June 3, 2009. The Organization of American States on Wednesday has ruled in favor of the return of Cuba to the body. (Xinhua/Jairo Cajina)

Participants to the 39th General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) have their family photo session in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, June 2, 2009. The 39th OAS General Assembly kicked off here on Tuesday, during which the re-entry of Cuba to the OAS will be discussed. (Xinhua/Rafael Ochoa)

SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras, June 3 (Xinhua) -- The Organization of American States (OAS) voted to revoke Cuba's exclusion from the organization on Wednesday, the last of the two-day 39th OAS general assembly, being held in Honduran city of San Pedro Sula.

"It is resolved that resolution six, adopted on Jan. 31, 1962, at the eighth Foreign Ministers Consultative Meeting, which excluded the Cuban government from participation in the Inter-American system, is ruled null and void for the OAS," said Honduras Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas at the start of the meeting's plenary session.

The agreement had earlier been hammered out by working group from the body's general commission, led by Ecuador's Foreign Minister Fander Falconi. Diplomatic sources here said that the agreement was reached after Venezuela, Nicaragua and Honduras achieved the elimination of the words "democracy," "non-intervention," and "liberty" from a document proposed by the United States.

"Cuba's participation will be the result of a process of dialogue, which must be initiated by Cuba's government, conforming to the practices, proposals and principles of the Organization of American States," Rodas read.

Cuba's top officials have repeatedly said that they have little or no interest in returning to the body, including a newspaper column published earlier on Wednesday by Fidel Castro, who ran Cuba from 1959 to 2006, describing the body as a U.S. Trojan horse.

In his address to the assembly, Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya said "We are all completely in agreement. The cold war has ended here in San Pedro Sula."

Debate on the text had been so heated that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton walked out of the 10-hour meeting chaired by Falconi on Tuesday. However, in the early hours of Wednesday, Clinton's deputy Thomas A. Shannon approved the resolution unchanged.

On Wednesday, he told media "We have eliminated an obstacle to Cuba's reintegration to the OAS, and we have established a compromise with Cuba, a path towards the future based on OAS principles, values and practices."

Cuba was the topic that caught most attention at the assembly, although the main topic under discussion was supposed to be non-violence.