MIAMI — Frank Mora, a Miami native and the new U.S. ambassador to the Organization of Americas States, wants to make the organization “even more relevant” amid the “increasing erosion” of the democratic system in Latin America and the Caribbean, he told journalists on Thursday, discarding the possibility that the autocratic governments of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua would return to the organization anytime soon.
Mora said the three governments have vacant seats in the organization. Still, if current members follow the InterAmerican Democracy Charter — a set of commitments to uphold democracy in the region — “countries where these types of regimes exist should not have a presence in the OAS if we are going to be consistent.”
The U.S. ambassador insisted that the 34-member organization is the only regional multilateral organization with representatives from democratically elected governments and with an infrastructure strong enough to tackle some of the most urgent challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean, including climate change, recovery from the COVID pandemic and providing food.
