Estados Unidos y el Sáhara Occidental. Una perspectiva histórica sobre la autodeterminación y derechos humanos

Abstract

The U.S. foreign policy regarding the Western Sahara is characterized by tension between the formal support to the principle of self-determination and human rights, on the one hand, and the attempt to safeguard the interests of its main ally in the North African region: Morocco, on the other. The tension around these objectives has emerged with different intensity during the Reign of Hassan II, ending in 1999. Despite some initiatives, the U.S. policy has been characterized by its lack of support for the principle of self-determination to favor one of the conflict parties (Morocco), and by the absence of pressure on Morocco to end the systematic violations of civil and political rights in the occupied Western Sahara.