Did you guys actually do anything?

A few months ago, I joked that the Rio Group held a meeting in Brazil with the single agenda item to incorporate Cuba into the group (also absurd was the fact they had already incorporated Cuba, but decided to do it again). It's funny because a group whose only agenda is whether or not other countries are allowed into the group isn't exactly accomplishing much. It's more like a club of 10-year-old kids. Without actual topics on the agenda, I argued, the Rio Group was making itself irrelevant compared to other groups in the hemisphere.

The OAS meeting in Honduras descended into that same irrelevancy this week.

The issue of whether Cuba should be allowed back into the OAS is an important one and something I'll address later this week. However, it can't be the ONLY agenda item. The OAS needs real accomplishments in other multilateral areas to be successful. Going through the news this morning, I'm having a hard time finding a single other item of substance that was addressed by the group in a meaningful way. There were some nice speeches on various issues, a space for NGO's to criticize their respective governments, and a lengthy generic declaration that contained no specific promises on the main area of discussion.

In his speech to open the General Assembly, before outlining what he saw as a seven point hemispheric agenda, Secretary General Insulza said:

This agenda cannot simply be a list of items. While it is already important for us to agree on this list, what also matters is agreement on its substance and especially on common measures that demonstrate that the multilateralism we are engaging in can help solve problems.

Unfortunately, I haven't seen any signs that the OAS actually did that at the meeting this week. If the OAS can't manage to "demonstrate that the multilateralism we are engaging in can help solve problems," then it won't matter whether Cuba is a member or not.