The Organization of American States (OAS or OEA; Spanish: Organización de los Estados Americanos; Portuguese: Organização dos Estados Americanos; French: Organisation des États américains) is an international organization founded on 30 April 1948 to promote cooperation among its member states within the Americas.

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS is a "multilateral regional body focused on human rights, electoral oversight, social and economic development, and security in the Western Hemisphere", according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

[4][5] 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[7] 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.

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.

[8] 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.

[9] 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.

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 OAS report contended that the results were marred by "clear manipulation" and significant irregularities leading to the 2019 Bolivian political crisis.

[12] 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.

[13][14] Studies commissioned by the American left-leaning[15][16][17] think tank CEPR argued that the OAS report's statistical analysis was inaccurate and unreliable.

[23] 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 the words of Article 1 of the Charter, the goal of the member nations in creating the OAS was "to achieve an order of peace and justice, to promote their solidarity, to strengthen their collaboration, and to defend their sovereignty, their territorial integrity, and their independence."

Article 2 then defines eight essential purposes: Over the course of the 1990s, with the end of the Cold War, the return to democracy in Latin America, and the thrust toward globalization, the OAS made major efforts to reinvent itself to fit the new context.

The General Assembly's powers include setting the OAS's general course and policies by means of resolutions and declarations; approving its budget and determining the contributions payable by the member states; approving the reports and previous year's actions of the OAS's specialized agencies; and electing members to serve on those agencies.

Article 51 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly,[38] the supreme body of the OAS, which meets once a year, states that English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish are the four official languages.

Article 28 stipulates that a Style Committee shall be set up with representatives of the four official languages to review the General Assembly resolutions and declarations.

[47] From the 1960s to the 1980s, the Canadian government expressed some interest in joining the OAS, having successfully applied for permanent observer status in 1972 to evaluate potential membership.

The penalty was motivated because the foreign ministers checked the veracity of the claim that the Rafael Trujillo regime had sponsored an attack against Rómulo Betancourt, at that time the constitutional president of Venezuela.

[58] The current government of Cuba was excluded from participation in the Organization under a decision adopted by the Eighth Meeting of Consultation in Punta del Este, Uruguay, on 31 January 1962.

The operative part of the resolution reads as follows: This meant that the Cuban nation was still technically a member state, but that the current government was denied the right of representation and attendance at meetings and of participation in activities.

"[61] The reincorporation of Cuba as an active member regularly arose as a topic within the inter-American system – for instance, it was intimated by the outgoing ambassador of Mexico in 1998[62] – but most observers did not see it as a serious possibility while the present government remained in power.

[65][66] Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez promised to veto any final declaration of the 2009 Summit of the Americas due to Cuba's exclusion.

The United States had been pressuring the OAS for weeks to condition Cuba's readmission to the group on democratic principles and commitment to human rights.

"[69] The suspension was lifted at the end of the General Assembly, but, to be readmitted to the Organization, Cuba will need to comply with all the treaties signed by the Member States, including the Inter-American Democratic Charter of 2001.

The motion stated that the election was "not free, fair or transparent and lack[s] democratic legitimacy" and also instructed the Permanent Council to undertake an assessment of the situation and "take appropriate action".

[78] In response to this statement, Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada [es] announced on 19 November that Nicaragua would leave the OAS.

[45] Moncada called the bloc "an instrument of interference and intervention" and accused it of "facilitating the hegemony of the United States with its interventionism over the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.