OAS to intervene against coups... id KAA21281; Sat, 27 Sep 1997 10:01:28 -0400 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source:Paul Philippe Anglade 03:47 PM ET 09/25/97 OAS to intervene against coups in Latin America WASHINGTON (Reuter) - The Organization of American States can now suspend member states if democratic governments are overthrown under a statute reform that went into effect Thursday. The so-called Washington Protocol has been signed by 30 countries and ratified by 20. Only Mexico opposed the plan, saying it interfered in the internal affairs of member states. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott said the protocol was a powerful and historic instrument that would deter the ''enemies of democracy'' in the hemisphere. With increasing economic and commercial integration in the region, ``we all have a growing stake in how our neighbors govern or misgovern themselves,'' Talbott said. Until now the OAS could only convene a meeting of foreign minister in the event of a military coup toppling an elected government, as was the case in Haiti in 1991. Latin Americans have long considered the OAS to be an ineffectual body that served as tool of U.S. foreign policy in the hemisphere during the Cold War. The OAS has 34 active members. Cuba, the hemisphere's only non-democratic country [sic], was suspended in 1962. (c)REUTER ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytcamer-09.27.97-10:01:38-3656