New OAS Secretary General Albert Ramdin, elected on Monday, March 10, 2025, during an extraordinary general assembly in Washington. Photo: EFE.
On Monday, March 10, Surinamese Foreign Minister Albert Ramdin was elected the new Secretary-General of the Organization of American States (OAS) during an extraordinary general assembly in Washington. The 67-year-old diplomat, who secured the necessary votes to succeed outgoing Secretary-General Luis Almagro of Uruguay, will lead the organization until 2030, with the possibility of re-election.
Ramdin, the first Caribbean national to head the OAS, garnered support from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, and others among the 34 voting member states. His backing comfortably exceeded the 18 votes required to assume the five-year mandate. In recent days, the White House reportedly signaled its willingness to assist his transition into the role.
His sole rival, Paraguayan Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez Lezcano—a self-professed admirer of US President Donald Trump—withdrew his candidacy last Wednesday after key nations, including Brazil and Uruguay, shifted their support to Ramdin. This abrupt reversal left Paraguayan President Santiago Peña describing the shift among “regional allies” as “sudden and incomprehensible.”
Ramírez Lezcano’s exit followed a show of indirect US support. President Trump hosted him days earlier at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, posing for photos in a gesture perceived as a tacit endorsement. However, Trump’s overture reportedly alienated some member states.
Sources indicate that Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Uruguay’s Yamandú Orsi withdrew support for Paraguay’s candidate amid concerns over Trump’s return to the White House and his administration’s early policy moves. Ramdin’s election marks a strategic pivot toward leadership less closely tied to Washington’s influence than his predecessor, Almagro, who concludes his decade-long tenure on May 25.
The outgoing Secretary General of the OAS leaves office with a wealth of interventionist work and the “merit” of having been a fervent spokesman for the governments and disastrous US imperialist policies towards Latin America. Lacking the credibility to represent the region, many analysts see his departure as a good sign for Latin America.
Almagro’s decade will perhaps go down in history as the worst since the OAS was created on April 30, 1948. Along with his pro-US imperialism stance, his last years were plagued with ethical scandals that almost got him dismissed in 2023.
In his last years as the head of the institution, several countries abandoned their membership. In some cases—as with then-President of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador—it was proposed that the OAS be dissolved and that Latin American and Caribbean peoples, already integrated into the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), dedicate their efforts to strengthening CELAC and making its objectives a reality to benefit independence, respect for sovereignty, and turning the region into a true zone of peace.
(Telesur) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SF
