SAN PEDRO SULA:The Organization of American States, in an historic move, agreed Wednesday to readmit Cuba, revoking a nearly 50-year-old clause that barred the island because of its Marxist orientation.

The move, agreed by a consensus vote, sweeps away an anti-Communist clause that had been part of the organization's charter since 1962.

Ecuador's foreign minister Fander Falconi said Havana's readmission to the hemispheric group would be "without conditions."

The decision followed concerted moves by the United States to impose conditions on Cuba's return to the OAS, which excluded Havana during the Cold War because of its Soviet bloc ties.

Washington however opted not to oppose the vote in the increasingly left-leaning hemispheric organization, officials said.