In a surprise move, the Organization of American States yesterday lifted its 47-year suspension of Cuba, with the U.S. government acquiescing but getting conditions on the communist country's full return to the group.

The U.S. delegation, headed by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, had pressed hard for language that would delay the island's full membership until it agreed to honor democratic principles enshrined in OAS documents.

The resolution approved yesterday was more vague. It removed a 1962 ban on the country that cited its membership in the communist bloc. But it said Cuba could take its seat only after a process to ensure it was "in conformity with the practices, purposes and principles of the OAS."

Dan Restrepo, the top White House official for Western Hemisphere affairs, said the language was stronger than it might appear, because the preamble clearly included democracy and respect for human rights as fundamental OAS principles.

The net effect of the move appeared to be the removal of an irritant in the U.S. relationship with Latin America and the deferment of arguments about how Cuba might be readmitted.

"We have left an argument of the past in the past," he said, referring to the battle over lifting the 1962 suspension. "That allows us to focus on what's going on in the present and move to the future."

Reflecting the delicacy of the issue in U.S. politics, the OAS decision came under immediate fire from Cuban American legislators.

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said in a statement that the move "allows for loose interpretation of what should be a clear set of fundamental democratic principles and standards" on human rights in the region.

Diplomats battled over the resolution for two days at the annual OAS assembly in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. The assembly is the main forum for political cooperation in the region The decision was largely symbolic, because Cuban officials have rejected the idea of returning to the OAS, which they label a U.S. tool.

But the clamor to lift the resolution shows how important the issue is to the hemisphere. Many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean see it is as a litmus test for the Obama administration's promises to work more closely with the region.

U.S. diplomats said they considered the resolution acceptable, especially because some countries had pressed to immediately readmit Cuba without conditions. The OAS normally works by consensus, but some had threatened to bring the matter to a vote.

Countries that had bashed the United States for its Cuba policies celebrated what they considered a strong symbolic victory.

"The Cold War ended today. Fidel Castro said more than 40 years ago that history would absolve him, and history absolved him," said Honduran President Manuel Zelaya.

By Mary Beth Sheridan, The Washington Post, June 4, 2009