The fence seems to be closing for the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, and the debate about his continuity or removal got into the internal Democratic party of the United States, the country with the greatest financial contribution and highest influence on the organism. A group of eight representatives of the “progressive” wing of the ruling party, led by African-American Hank Johnson, presented a note to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and OAS Ambassador Francisco Mora supporting the ongoing investigation into alleged misconduct. of ethics and fraudulent administration of the Uruguayan, but also incorporates elements of a political nature as investigative factors. Precisely those mentioned by the representatives of the critical States, such as Argentina. Among them, the accompaniment to the coup d’état against Evo Morales in Bolivia in 2019. “Mr. Almagro and other OAS officials made statements suggesting that fraud had been committed in the presidential elections in Bolivia, which fueled the political crisis and forced the resignation of the president-elect”, indicates the letter of the legislators. “Several expert studies discredited these fraud allegations and led members of the OAS and the US Congress to request an independent report on the case. However, Mr. Almagro ignored this request and instead directed an ‘ad hominem’ attack against the authors of those studies,” the document states.
The letter, dated April 5, also severely criticizes his decision to refuse to “abruptly” renew the mandate of the Executive Secretary of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission, Paulo Abrão, despite having been unanimously ratified in his position. The decision was described as an “attack on the autonomy and independence of the Commission”, he points out.
“In order to restore the credibility and reputation of the OAS in the region, we respectfully request that US representatives to the OAS be instructed to use their voice and vote to support further independent investigation into these cases.” of poor performance indicated “, the letter concludes.
Although it is a minority position in a block that in the lower house brings together 213 of 435 deputies in total, the statement shows an internal one that can take Almagro on, but also try to redefine the regional scenario. “Almagro has probably incurred in mistakes that have a negative impact on the OAS budget and that is not good. But the core reasons why we have questioned it are always very deep political reasons,” he told Time the Argentine ambassador to the OAS, Carlos Raimundi. “That’s why we want him to come out. And it does not happen that someone can tell us, oh well, they wanted Almagro’s head, there they have it, but now help the policies of geopolitical alignment with the most powerful countries of financial capitalism, because that would not be a solution either, “he said. .
Among some of those “deep reasons”, Raimundi listed “having made absolute silence about the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff and the political persecution and judicial disqualification of Lula, Rafael Correa; having recognized a phantasmagorical president in Venezuela, like Juan Guaidó and fundamentally having been the main intellectual, political person responsible for the coup d’état in Bolivia ». Almagro should receive in these days the report of the investigation on the alleged misconduct of getting involved with a subordinate, 20 years younger, and of spending with official money that he would have made with her on international trips. Parallel to the investigation, the missions of Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia and Mexico requested details of amounts and receipts related to the General Secretariat, which kindly responded with the promise of providing this information, but without delivering it in writing, as the ambassadors later claimed. After Almagro receives the preliminary report, he will have ten days to prepare his discharge before the plenary session.
