Founding of Organization of American States

The Organization of American States is an international body of countries in the Americas, established in 1948 at the Ninth International Conference of American States in Bogota, Colombia, where its charter was adopted. It built on earlier inter-American cooperation, which began in the 1890s and was known as the Pan American Union. The organization was formed in the early Cold War to promote peace, democracy, human rights and cooperation between its members, which now include nearly all independent states of the hemisphere. It has its headquarters in Washington, D.C. Among its activities are election observation and the work of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Cuba's participation was suspended in 1962, and the question of its role has been controversial.

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