The Organisation of American States is meeting in Honduras to discuss and end to its suspension of Cuba. The communist country was removed from the organisation almost five decades ago after Fidel Castro seized power.  

An increasing number of voices within the organisation are saying that the time is now ripe to readmit Cuba. Among them is Venezuela, which believes Cuba should never have been suspended in the first place. Like Venezuela, Honduras, Bolivia and Nicaragua are setting no conditions for the country’s readmission.

The United States, however, is demanding that the OAS abide by the democratic principles enshrined in its own charter and force Cuba to release all its political prisoners and improve human rights before it can be readmitted.