The Organization of American States (or OAS according to Abbreviationfinder.org) was created in 1948 when the Charter of the OAS was signed in Bogotá (Colombia), which entered into force in December 1951, with the objective of achieving in its member states, as stipulated in the Article 1 of the Charter, an order of peace and justice, promote their solidarity, strengthen their collaboration and defend their sovereignty, their territorial integrity and their independence.
The organization’s statement says it works to strengthen peace and security, consolidate democracy, promote human rights, support social and economic development, and promote sustainable development in America. Although it became a space for US domination on the continent.
The official languages of the organization are Spanish, Portuguese, English and French. Its acronym in Spanish is OEA and in English OAS (Organization of American States). The OAS is based in Washington DC, United States of America. The OAS is the oldest and most extensive regional body in the world but it has been losing ground in America to proposals such as UNASUR (Union of South American Nations), ALBA(Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America) and CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States).
Bloody file
In 1954 Guatemala was invaded by mercenary troops organized by the CIA, which overthrew the government of Jacobo Arbenz. The OAS had previously lent itself to pass a resolution that introduced the variant of regional collective intervention, in express violation of its own Charter and that of the UN. Faced with the fait accompli, the agency limited itself to “letting it do” the United States and delayed the examination of the situation, ignoring the interests of the attacked country.
The actions with respect to Cuba from the triumph of the Revolution, the support for the invasion of Playa Girón in 1961, the actions that it deployed in the political-diplomatic order to isolate us, which concluded with the expulsion of Cuba in January 1962 and the The rupture of diplomatic relations of the countries of the region with the Greater Antilles, meant such a level of cruelty that it put the organization more into question.
In April 1965 the Yankee Marines landed in Santo Domingo to prevent the imminent victory of the popular constitutionalist movement over the forces of the militarist reaction. The OAS sent its Secretary General, the Uruguayan José A. Mora, to the Dominican capital with the apparent purpose of obtaining a truce between the belligerents, while the Organ of Consultation delayed a decision to facilitate the Yankee military forces to take control of the the situation. After multiple efforts, the United States achieved by the narrow margin of one vote the approval of a resolution that ordered the creation of an Inter-American Peace Force, taking place, for the first time under the seal of the OAS, a collective intervention in a country of the area.
The OAS, which had among its basic principles the principle of non-intervention by any State in the internal affairs of others, continued to have a credibility crisis.
On April 2, 1982, the Argentine attack to recover the Falkland Islands – in the hands of the British Empire since 1833 – began the Falklands War. Faced with the first aggression by an extracontinental power against a country of the inter-American system, the TIAR (Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance) forced to summon continental solidarity with the attacked. However, the United States supported Great Britain politically and militarily and imposed economic sanctions against Argentina. The OAS delayed its reaction, adopted a lukewarm resolution calling for an end to the conflict, and only a month later condemned the armed attack and urged the United States to immediately lift the measures applied against Argentina. Chile, in the Pinochet era, supported Great Britain.
In October 1983, a military coup overthrew Granada’s prime minister, Maurice Bishop, who was assassinated at the hands of the coup plotters. The US also sent an invading force of 1,900 marines to Grenada who took control of the island. The principle of non-intervention was no longer valid. At the OAS, the majority approved this action as a “preventive measure,” while others rejected it. Finally, the invasion was condemned for classifying it as a violation of the Bogota Charter.
General secretaries
Alberto Lleras Camargo (1948-1954)
Carlos Dávila Espinoza (1954-1955)
José A. Mora (1956-1968)
Galo Plaza Lasso (1968-1975)
Alejandro Orfila (1975-1984)
João Clemente Baena Soares (1984-1994)
Cesar Gaviria (1994-2004)
Miguel Ángel Rodríguez (September-October 2004)
Luigi R. Einaudi, Acting Secretary General (October 2004 to May 2005)
José Miguel Insulza, Secretary General (from May 2005 to May 2015).
Luis Almagro, Secretary General since May 2015.
Member states
- Old and bearded
- Argentina
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Belize
- Bolivia
- Brazil
- Canada
- chili
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Dominica
- Ecuador
- The Savior
- USA
- grenade
- Guatemala
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Jamaica
- Mexico
- Nicaragua
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Dominican Republic
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Vincent and the Grenadines
- Lucia
- Surinam
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Uruguay
- Venezuela