Havana, December 18 (RHC-Mercopress) -- The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, has welcomed the “historic announcement” made by the Presidents of Cuba and the United States, Raúl Castro and Barack Obama, of the efforts to resume diplomatic relations between the two countries, the lifting of certain commercial restrictions and the beginning of new paths for cooperation on issues of mutual interest.

The OAS leader congratulated President Barack Obama “for having taken these historic steps, as necessary as they are courageous, to restore diplomatic relations broken off in 1961.”

“This is a decision of great vision on both sides, because this conflict, which has significant negative implications for citizens of both countries, had stagnated politically for too long,” said the Secretary General.

The leader of the multilateral Organization said, “the measures announced today open a path to normalization from which there is no return,“ and asked the United States Congress to ”take the necessary legislative measures to lift the embargo against Cuba, which remains in force.“

Secretary General Insulza recalled the decision of the OAS, adopted unanimously by all member states, to rescind the suspension of Cuba as an active member of the Organization, adopted at the General Assembly in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, in 2009, and described the resolution as ”an early step to bring the Caribbean nation closer to the community of countries that make up the OAS.“

Likewise, he expressed his hope that the expectations for the success of the forthcoming Seventh Summit of the Americas in Panama are fully met.

The head of the OAS expressed his happiness at the release of Alan Gross, as well as Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino and Antonio Guerrero, saying that their imprisonment ”was the product of a past that should not return.“