E-Mails Reveal That the US Heard Brazil About Cuba's Return to the OAS

07/02/2015 - 09h40

E-mails exchanged between the then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (2009-2013) and her aides made public this week reveal that in 2009, the US insisted that Brazil participated in finding a solution to lift the suspension of Cuba from the OAS (Organization of American States).

According to a message sent on May 30th by Huma Abedin, then deputy head of Clinton's cabinet, to the US Secretary, the Secretary State Assistant for Latin America, Thomas Shannon, was trying to convince the Brazilian government not to let the issue in the hands of the then Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza.

"Tom [Shannon] told the Brazilian ambassador [in Washington, Antonio Patriota] that Insulza has a major credibility problem with our Congress, and we [the US], Brazil, Mexico and others cannot help but get involved in the issue," Abedin said in the email.

According to the advisor, the then Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim acknowledged that the problem was the suspension of Cuba, but that the minister had his focused efforts to involve Insulza in the solution.

Earlier, Jake Sullivan, another close adviser of Hillary Clinton, outlined in an email (without naming names) to the Secretary of State how to talk to Amorim and with the then Mexican foreign minister, Patricia Espinosa.

"As the conversations with these two ministers unfold, it should stand out that we have come a long way in relation to Cuba –and that would be very bad to interfere or embarrass President Obama after every step he took," Sullivan said to Hillary.

Four days later, during assembly in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, the foreign ministers of the OAS approved the overthrow of the suspension.

Brazil is said to have helped convince countries part of ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas), led by Caracas, which demanded an apology to Cuba to support the US proposal.

Last April, the Cuban government participated in an OAS summit for the first time in 50 years, but there is no indication if and when it may return to the organization.

Translated by CRISTIANE COSTA LIMA

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	Sergio Lima/Folhapress
	Organization of American States Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, in 2011