The Western Hemisphere’s chief regional organization has been hobbled by pro-Trump leadership.
With a Venezuelan opposition leader declaring himself the country’s president and the Trump administration appearing to back a coup, Venezuela is lurching toward a new phase of crisis. And that crisis could be worsened by hardline leadership at the Organization of American States (OAS), the world’s oldest and most influential regional organization.
Luis Almagro, the OAS Secretary General, recentlyannouncedhis bid for another 5-year term at the helm of the organization. That would be a major setback for good governance in the region.
Throughout his tenure, Almagro has acted against many of the basic principles and mandates of the organization and consistently represented US interests above those of its neighbors, generally supporting allies and punishing adversaries of the US government. In particular, he’s actively sought regime change inVenezuela.
Almagro’s oftenunsubstantiated claimsagainst Venezuela and Cuba echo the rhetoric of dangerous terrorists likeLuis Posada Carriles. His open interventions in countries’ internal politics have completely reversed diplomatic advances in resolving controversies, divided the continent, and led his own Uruguayan political party to expel him and advocate for removing him from the leadership of the OAS.
Moreover, as Almagro has set himself up as arbiter in the internal affairs of leftist-governed nations (while turning a blind eye to blatant disregard for law in right-wing regimes), his own leadership faces serious corruption charges related to management of funds for the beleaguered anti-corruption mission in Honduras.
In an unusual move, Almagro appointed himself the headin absentiaof theMissionto Support the Fight against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH), maintaining control of the mission and finances in Washington. The MACCIH was founded in 2015 as a result of citizen pressure and placed under the auspices of the OAS.
The lead representative of the MACCIH, former Peruvian prime minister Juan Jimenez Mayor,resignedin frustration in February 2018, citing lack of support from Almagro, withdrawal of security measures for his team, and a “pact of impunity” between Almagro and JOH.
Jiménez alsopubliclyaccused Almagro of hiring persons close to him at hefty salaries despite the fact that the commission in Honduras doesn’t know what it is they do. Withsigns of corruptionwithin the OAS anti-corruption mission, MACCIH lawyers requested an audit by the OEA Inspector General. Although member countries seconded the request, no audit was carried out.
Tensions between Almagro and the anti-corruption commission had been building for months. The MACCIH had recently taken on some major investigations in the midst of a political crisis in the country. Since the 2009 coup d’etat, Honduras has lurched from one crisis to the next.
