19th century in 1910, shortly after its construction in
Washington, D. C. The notion of an international union in the American continent was first put forward during the liberation of America by
José de San Martín and
Simón Bolívar who, at the 1826
Congress of Panama, still being part of
Colombia, proposed creating a league of American republics, with a common military, a mutual defense pact, and a supranational parliamentary assembly. The meeting was attended by representatives of
Gran Colombia (comprising the present-day countries of
Colombia,
Ecuador,
Panama, and
Venezuela),
Argentina,
Peru,
Bolivia, the
United Provinces of Central America, and Mexico but the grandly titled "Treaty of Union, League, and Perpetual Confederation" was ultimately ratified only by Gran Colombia. Bolívar's dream soon floundered with civil war in Gran Colombia, the disintegration of Central America, and the emergence of
national rather than New World outlooks in the newly independent American republics. Bolívar's dream of inter-American unity was meant to unify Hispanic American nations against external powers.
Founding of the International Union of American Republics The pursuit of regional solidarity and cooperation again came to the forefront in 1889–1890, at the First
International Conference of American States. Gathered together in Washington, D.C., 18 nations resolved to found the International Union of American Republics, served by a permanent secretariat called the Commercial Bureau of the American Republics (renamed the International Commercial Bureau at the Second International Conference in 1901–1902). These two bodies, in existence as of 14 April 1890, represent the point of inception to which the OAS and its
General Secretariat trace their origins.
20th century in Washington, D.C. in 1943 At the fourth
International Conference of American States (
Buenos Aires, 1910), the name of the organization was changed to the Union of American Republics and the Bureau became the Pan American Union. The
Pan American Union Building was constructed in 1910, on
Constitution Avenue,
Northwest, Washington, D.C. In the mid-1930s, U.S. President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt organized an inter-American conference in Buenos Aires. One of the items at the conference was a "
League of Nations of the Americas", an idea proposed by Colombia, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic. At the subsequent Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace, 21 nations pledged to remain neutral in the event of a conflict between any two members. The experience of World War II convinced hemispheric governments that unilateral action could not ensure the territorial integrity of the American nations in the event of external aggression. To meet the challenges of global conflict in the postwar world and to contain conflicts within the hemisphere, they adopted a system of
collective security, the
Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (Rio Treaty) signed in 1947 in
Rio de Janeiro.
Creation of the OAS The ninth
International Conference of American States was held in
Bogotá between March and May 1948 and led by
United States Secretary of State George Marshall, a meeting which led to a pledge by members to fight communism in the
Western Hemisphere. This was the event that saw the birth of the OAS as it stands today, with the signature by 21 American countries of the
Charter of the Organization of American States on 30 April 1948 (in effect since December 1951). The meeting also adopted the
American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, the world's first general human rights instrument. The transition from the Pan American Union to OAS would have been smooth if it had not been for the assassination of Colombian leader
Jorge Eliécer Gaitán. The Director General of the Pan American Union,
Alberto Lleras Camargo, became the Organization's first
Secretary General.
21st century The OAS conducted an audit of the
2019 Bolivian general election, which opposition supporters argued was fraudulent. The OAS report contended that the results were marred by "clear manipulation" and significant irregularities leading to the
2019 Bolivian political crisis. Bolivian president
Evo Morales resigned soon after, having lost the confidence of the country's military in what he described as a coup. Some media outlets debated whether it should be referred to as a coup. On 21 December, the Technical Mission of Electoral Experts sent by the European Union published a 67-page report which made similar observations and conclusions to that of the OAS. They noted that "there were minutes with an unusually high number of null votes, blank votes and a hundred percent participation of voters in a series of polling stations" and highlighted the general failure of the TSE to declare these irregularities. Studies commissioned by the American
left-leaning think tank
CEPR argued that the OAS report's statistical analysis was inaccurate and unreliable. The author of the OAS's vote return analysis stated that the CEPR's explanation of the results was implausible. The organization has been criticized by Mexico and the CEPR for their perception of interference into the internal affairs of Bolivia. The OAS observed the subsequent
2020 Bolivian general election stating there was no evidence of fraud.
The New York Times concluded that there was some fraud, but that it was unclear how much or if it was sufficient to change the result of the election, and suggested the initial analysis by the OAS was flawed. In November 2021, OAS condemned the outcome of the
Nicaraguan general election. In April 2022, Nicaragua reported the completion of its withdrawal process from the OAS initiated in November 2021. The OAS stated that, due to the terms of treaty, the withdrawal would not take effect until 2023. The move was completed on 19 November that year.
Milestones Significant milestones in the history of the OAS since the signing of the Charter have included the following: • 1959:
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights created. • 1959:
Inter-American Development Bank created. • 1960: First application of the
Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance against the regime of
Rafael Trujillo in the
Dominican Republic. • 1961: Charter of Punta del Este signed, launching the
Alliance for Progress. • 1962: OAS suspends
Cuba. • 1969:
American Convention on Human Rights signed (in force since 1978). • 1970:
OAS General Assembly established as the Organization's supreme decision-making body. • 1979:
Inter-American Court of Human Rights created. • 1991: Adoption of Resolution 1080, which requires the Secretary General to convene the
Permanent Council within ten days of a
coup d'état in any member country. • 1994: First
Summit of the Americas (
Miami), which resolved to establish a
Free Trade Area of the Americas by 2005. • 2001:
Inter-American Democratic Charter adopted. • 2009: OAS revokes 1962 suspension of
Cuba. • 2009: OAS suspends Honduras due to the
coup which ousted president
Manuel Zelaya. • 2011: OAS lifts the suspension of Honduras with the return of Manuel Zelaya from exile. • 2017:
Venezuela announces it would begin the process to leave the OAS, accusing the organization of interference in
Venezuela's political crisis. • 2019: During the
Venezuelan presidential crisis, the
President of the National Assembly Juan Guaidó, recognized by the
National Assembly as the acting president, expressed his desire for Venezuela to remain a member of the OAS. • 2021:
Nicaragua submitted a formal request to leave the OAS, following condemnation from the OAS General Assembly of Foreign Ministers of the outcome of the
2021 election. • 2023: Nicaragua completed its withdrawal from the OAS. == Goals and purpose ==