of Cuba from continuing to receive weapons that constituted an active threat to the region's security. The fact that the OAS took this unanimous action in less than 24 hours demonstrated to the world the solidarity of the inter-American system and the efficacy of its collective security instruments.

The Tenth Meeting of Consultation took place in May 1965 to consider the serious situation created by the armed conflict in the Dominican Republic. Prior to the meeting the Council of the OAS called for a cease-fire and the establishment of an international neutral zone for refugees.

The Tenth Meeting authorized the OAS Secretary General to go to the Dominican Replublic to help in the solution of the conflict, and a special commission of ambassadors from five member states was also sent to that country to assist in the restoration of peace and stability. The Meeting issued an urgent appeal to the member states for the shipment of food, medicines, and medical personnel to the Dominican Republic under the OAS emergency aid program.

The Meeting also took an action that had no precedent in the regional system: the creation of an Inter-American Peace Force.

Its mission was the restoration of peace, the safeguarding of the rights of the civilian population, and the establishment of a climate of harmony and conciliation conducive to the holding of free elections.

Following long and difficult negotiations, a Provisional Government was formed on September 3, 1965. The OAS cooperated in the preparation for the election necessary to re-establish a constitutional government. In addition, a group of distinguished leaders from the Hemisphere were invited to observe the elections to see that they were free and impartial. They were held in June 1966, and the Inter-American Peace Force was withdrawn from the Dominican Republic.

Three years later the OAS was again called on to restore peace in the region. The armed conflict between Honduras and El Salvador in July 1969 was responsible for the Thirteenth Meeting of Consultation. The OAS Permanent Council had already moved quickly to try to keep the hostilities from spreading, and one of the first decisions of the Meeting of Consultation was to declare itself in session for an indefinite period in order to closely supervise strict compliance of the resolutions adopted for the re-establishment and maintenance of inter-American peace and security and to achieve the peaceful solution of the dispute between the two nations.

Eventually a cease-fire was arranged, and resolutions were adopted for the withdrawal of troops and for the naming of a special commission composed of seven ambassadors to supervise the withdrawal and safeguard the guarantees made by both governments to respect the life and property of nationals of each country living in the other.

The Meeting also called on all international organizations, agencies, and entities, especially those within the inter-American system, to cooperate with both countries for the solution of problems of development and population. An important resolution was adopted on the area's development, urging the members of the Central American Common Market to do everything possible to preserve their movement toward economic integration.

Profound changes in world politics during the 1970s led the regional Organization to explore the possibility of repealing the measures against Cuba taken under the Rio Treaty. Finally, in 1975, at the Sixteenth Meeting of Consultation, a draft resolution presented by 11 countries was approved, permitting the State Parties to the Rio Treaty to resume their relations with Cuba "at the level and in the form that each state deems advisable."

When civil strife broke up in Nicaragua in September 1978, the Seventeenth Meeting of Consultation was convoked by the Permanent Council of the Organization upon request of that country. A resolution was taken urging the governments concerned to refrain from taking any action that might aggravate the existing situation.

Also the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights accepted the invitation of Nicaragua to visit that country. At that time the Government of Nicaragua had stated that it was willing to accept any conciliatory efforts offered by the member states of the OAS to establish without delay the necessary conditions for a peaceful settlement of the situation.

In November of that same year, complying with a request of Costa Rica that a meeting of consultation be held to consider alleged acts of aggression on the part of Nicaragua in Costa Rican territory, the Permanent Council called for the Eighteenth Meeting of Consultation. It requested the Government of Nicaragua to refrain from any threat against Costa Rica and established a Committee of Civilian Observers from the OAS to be stationed at the border between the two countries to report on the situation.

In 1979 the Seventeenth Meeting of Consultation, which had remained open all that time, requested the member states to take steps within their reach to facilitate a lasting and peaceful solution to the Nicaraguan problem, a solution that should be arrived at on the basis of an immediate and definite replacement of the Somoza regime and the installation of a democratic government.

In 1982 the region faced the serious situation regarding the Malvinas Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean and in April of that same year the Twentieth Meeting of Consultation adopted two resolutions of great importance, urging the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland immediately to cease the hostilities it was carrying on within the security region and to refrain from any act that may affect inter-American peace and security. It also urged the Government of the Republic of Argentina likewise to refrain from taking any action that could exacerbate the situation. During that meeting it was resolved to keep the Twentieth Meeting of Consultation open (at this date it remains open) so that it may take any measures to preserve inter-American solidarity and cooperation.

In subsequent assemblies the OAS keeps urging the two countries to continue negotiations and find a peaceful solution to their sovereignty problem over the Malvinas Islands.

Other successful events in the political realm of the Organization of American States include the deposit in November 1980 of a peace treaty between Honduras and El Salvador, the decision of Argentina and Chile to request the Holy See (a Permanennt Observer of the OAS) to mediate their disputes over the future of various island territories and maritime areas, and the February 1981 meeting of the Organ of Consultation that sought to use the best offices of the Organization as an element in helping to

restore peaceful relations between Ecuador and Peru.

Among the immediate concerns facing the OAS is the establishment and maintenance of peace in the Central American region. The CONTADORA group integrated by Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Venezuela adopted the Act of Contadora for Peace and Cooperation in Central America, which was the result of intense meetings and negotiations. At a meeting of the General Assembly in 1984 the OAS urged the member countries of that region to intensify their consultations in order to expedite the signing of the Act. As a first step, the countries of Central America signed in 1986 the Declaration of Guatemala stating that it was their wish to obtain peace and stability through the Act of Contadora.

Perhaps the most dramatic case that demonstrates the effectiveness of the OAS in international matters was the signing of the Panama Canal Treaties in 1977, overcoming the difficult situation between the United States and Panama over the future of the Canal.

NEW ERA IN INTER-AMERICAN
COOPERATION

Since the Act of Washington of 1964 approving admission of new members to the Organization, 11 countries have joined the regional institution as full-fledged members during this period of transition in the history of interAmericanism. As a result of their entry, these countries joined the other member states in making the decisions that would reorient the future course of the inter-American system (see MEMBERS and dates, p. 34).

Throughout the years the inter-American community has been faced with new challenges that had to be met by its regional organization. In all of the meetings of the General Assembly, OAS representatives have grappled with the most diverse and crucial issues affecting the Americas, and they have adopted fresh measures and created new bodies to deal with them.

During its deliberations the Assembly has taken important initiatives such as the signing of a convention aimed at curbing terrorism and the kidnaping and ransom of persons. The expansion of trade and the avoidance of protectionist practices, particularly as a tactic of economic coercion, have been high on several agendas. A mechanism was established whereby nonmember states can participate in OAS meetings and activities (without vote) through a system of Permanent Observers (see p. 35). Stress was placed on strict observance of the principles of nonintervention and the self-determination of peoples.

When Secretary General Alejandro Orfila of Argentina submitted his resignation as of March 31, 1984, the General Assembly unanimously elected Ambassador João Clemente Baena Soares of Brazil as Secretary General of the OAS at a special meeting held that same month and year. Ambassador Valerie T. McComie of Barbados who had been elected Assistant Secretary General of the OAS in 1980 was reelected in 1984 for another 5-year term.

The financial problems of the countries were aggrevated in the decade of the 80s. In order to resolve these problems, a Special Committee on Financing and Trade was established in 1983. In this respect, mention should be made of the lifting of trade restrictions on copper imports from Chile to the United States, obtained thanks to the intervention of the OAS through its Secretary General.

Alleged violations of human rights in some of the member states and the narcotraffic problem have been a cause for increasing concern. With regard to the latter an InterAmerican Specialized Conference on Traffic in Narcotic Drugs was held in April 1986, which approved a program of action to increase and strengthen the capacity of the member states to reduce the demand for drugs, prevent drug abuse, and combat unlawful production of and trafficking in drugs.

Thus, the General Assembly has contended with, and continues to address, the critical issues that confront its member states, some emanating from within the interAmerican system itself, some caused by the universal pressures and maladjustments of the times.

B. Organization of American States *

Origin

The Organization of American States is the oldest international regional organization in the world. It provides a forum for political, economic, social, and cultural cooperation among the member states of the Western Hemisphere.

In 1890 eighteen independent American republics held the First International Conference of American States in Washington, D.C. On April 14 of that year an agreement was signed creating the International Union of American Republics. Since then, April 14 has been celebrated as Inter-American Day. The Union was to act through a Commercial Bureau with headquarters in Washington, D.C. and a maximum budget of $36,000. The mission of the Bureau was to collect and publicize commercial statistics useful to the member countries. In 1910 the Commercial Bureau became the Pan American Union.

The Ninth International Conference of American States, held in Bogotá, Colombia, in 1948, adopted the basic Charter, and the International Union of American Republics became the Organization of American States. The Pan American Union was designated its General Secretariat and the International Conference was renamed the Inter-American Conference.

The Charter as amended in the Third Inter-American Conference held in Buenos Aires in 1967 came into force on February 27, 1970.

Purposes

The OAS has the following essential purposes:

a) To strengthen the peace and security of the continent;

b) To prevent possible causes of difficulties and to ensure the peaceful settlement of disputes that may arise among the member states;

c) To provide for common action on the part of the member states in the event of aggression;

d) To seek the solution of political, juridical, and economic problems that may arise among them; and e) To promote, by cooperative action, their economic, social and cultural development.

This section describes the structure and operation of the OAS before the entry into force, on November 16, 1988, of the 1985 Protocol of Cartagena. See pp. 23-56 for the text of the OAS Charter of 1948 as amended by the 1967 Protocol. See pp. 57-68 for the 1985 Protocol of Cartagena de Indias which further amended the OAS Charter.