THE OAS: Trying to Hold the Americas Together

EXCEPT in times of crisis, few Americans hear much about the Organization of American States.

When trouble comes, it suddenly appears onstage as a set of initials with some ill-defined, but impressive-sounding role in inter-American affairs. In reality, it does not command the power that is expected of it. But as an organ of consultation and a forum of opinion, it is far and away the handiest instrument the U.S. has for dealing with hemisphere problems.

In its 75 years of life, the organization, under various names, has been the key element in the effort to establish a system of Latin American international law. It wrote a declaration of human rights before the U.N. got around to it, organized a regional defense pact two years ahead of NATO, and above all has given high status to the idea of community in the Western Hemisphere.

While the roots of the inter-American system go back to 1826, when Liberator Simon Bolivar called a meeting of eight nations in Panama to write a treaty for common defense and peaceful settlement of disputes among neighbors, the OAS dates its birth to the formation of the International Union of American Republics in 1890. Political family-hood, as Bolivar envisioned it, did not arrive until 1947, when a new generation of defense-minded Americans, meeting in Rio de Janeiro, drew up a treaty for mutual protection against aggression. In 1948 in Bogota, they agreed on a charter, calling themselves the OAS.

Today, 20 nations belong to the OAS. Through dozens of councils and committees, the OAS plays a major role in coordinating Alianza programs; it trains technicians, promotes public health, welfare and education. But its biggest job is political --acting as a peace-keeping mediator. In any dispute, at least one of the parties must request OAS help before it will intervene. Routine squabbles are handled by the permanent Council of OAS Ambassadors which meets twice a month; in serious cases, the Council may summon a meeting of OAS foreign ministers, or simply sit in for the ministers, acting on orders from home. The final OAS decision by two-thirds vote is binding.

In 1955, the OAS headed off a war between Costa Rica and Nicaragua after Nicaragua tried to foment a revolution in its southern neighbor. That same year the OAS prevented a shooting match between Ecuador and Peru over a disputed strip of jungle. Not surprisingly, the Dominican Republic has been a frequent customer; in 1960, when Dictator Rafael Trujillo's goons tried to murder Venezuelan President Romulo Betancourt, the OAS imposed diplomatic and economic sanctions. Last week's five-man peace team was the 13th OAS delegation to visit the country since 1961.

Where the OAS has often failed is in its attempts to deal with the more subtle, infinitely more dangerous Communist subversions of Fidel Castro. Until last year, the only decisive OAS action was its immediate, unanimous support of the U.S. during the 1962 missile crisis. Then, in November 1963, Venezuela discovered a Castro arms cache on its northern coast, and the OAS finally voted for a break with Castro. At that it took eight months to agree--and Mexico still ignores the ruling.

Last week's decision to summon a military task force to help the U.S. keep order in the Dominican Republic is one indication that Latin Americans are increasingly willing to act on what they know: that Communist subversion is an OAS problem and not merely a figment of U.S. imagination. Even so, the whole question of the OAS's effectiveness is scheduled to be threshed out in Rio later this month at an OAS Inter-American Conference, the system's top policymaking body. That meeting may be postponed until the uproar over the Dominican crisis simmers down. If and when it is held, the OAS's critics will have plenty to talk about.

One of the major problems is the Inter-American Conference itself. Under the OAS charter, it is supposed to meet at least once every five years to reassess policy and lay down broad guidelines. The last time the delegates gathered for any general discussion was at Caracas in 1954. That has left the real business of the OAS--the major policy decisions--in the lap of the foreign ministers, who have been holding one-shot emergency meetings, most often at U.S. urging. Secretary-General Jose A. Mora, the Uruguayan lawyer who has headed the OAS since 1956, will press for a regular yearly foreign ministers' meeting to examine the hemisphere's economic and political health instead of waiting for an Inter-American Conference once in a blue moon.

Any proposal to strengthen the OAS, and thus weaken national sovereignty, is bound to stir a lively debate. But as Puerto Rico's former Governor Munoz Marin says: "There are great struggles under way in the world, and I believe we should be in position with proper instruments in the OAS to prevent the Communists from moving in."

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