BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC—Albert Ramdin, Suriname’s 67-year-old Foreign Affairs Minister, is very confident. He believes that on March 10, he will be elected as the new Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS).
Ramdin is challenging Rubén Ramírez, the Foreign Minister of Paraguay, in a bid to succeed Luis Almagro, who was first elected as OAS Secretary General in 2015 and re-elected in 2020.
He has brushed aside negative media comments, including one implicating him in human trafficking activities. Ramdin said he is aware of the allegation but added the write “is known to us in Suriname.
“He has been criticizing everybody, including the President (Chandrikapersad “Chan” Santokhi). We wanted to sue him for making false allegations. Lawyers said don’t waste time, nobody takes him on,” Ramdin said.
A third person, Arnaldo André, the Foreign Minister of Costa Rica, has entered the contest as an unofficial candidate and recently published a Spanish manifesto outlining his vision for the Organization.
Political observers note that the Costa Rican government has the right to propose André’s candidacy up to the day of the election on March 10, but he is unlikely to garner much support.
In his weekly newspaper column, Antigua and Barbuda’s ambassador to the OAS, Sir Ronald Sanders, said the next Secretary-General must possess more than diplomatic credentials.
“He (there is no female candidate) must have a firm grasp of the Organization’s operational needs, financial constraints, and institutional challenges. He must also be prepared to lead with resilience, innovation, and a clear vision for revitalizing the OAS at a time of diminishing resources,” Sir Ronald wrote.
Ramdin is no stranger to the OAS, having served for several years as its assistant secretary general. He hopes to become the first Caribbean Community (CARICOM) national to be elected to the top post of the 35-member grouping of independent states of the Americas that seek to establish and maintain peace and justice, promote solidarity, strengthen collaboration, and defend their sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence.
So far, he has received the endorsement of the 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries, of which 14 are OAS members. The other CARICOM country, Montserrat, is a British Overseas Territory.
“The endorsement of CARICOM, done and reaffirmed several times, is critical. We, as a region, are united. As such, it demonstrates the commitment of CARICOM to aspire to this high-level position,” Ramdin told the Caribbean Media Corporation ahead of the March 10 election.
“We are very confident not only because CARICOM has endorsed 14 members out of 32, which is essential, but also because it’s a large part of the Organization. But beyond that, countries like Chile, Peru, Bolivia, and Honduras also support us.
“And I can tell you that beyond that, we have three other major South American countries I can’t name now because they have to announce it on their own, and they are supporting us. So that takes us over the required 18 votes to be elected.
“But let’s be realistic simultaneously. Elections are only real and final when they’re run. So, I’m going to continue working till the last minute to make sure that our message gets across together with CARICOM representatives who will be present in Washington, DC on the 10th of March,” he added.
Ramdin served as OAS assistant secretary general between 2005 and 2015, and José Miguel Insulza was the OAS Secretary General. He believes his new message to the multilateral institution in which the United States, as an entire member state, exercises direct influence in decision-making processes will help members deal with a changing global environment.
“Well, there are three key issues, I believe, which we have to focus on. One is the issue of multilateralism; the issue of international collaboration seems to be somewhat under threat. And by this, I mean that the collectivity which we used to have as an OAS, although there are different opinions on different matters, but that collectivity has weakened,” said Ramdin.
He insists that this is not a development only in the Western Hemisphere.
“Globally, we see also that the United Nations has been weakened in terms of its effectiveness and its ability to act on principles and conventions which were accepted as a collectivity for many, many decades.”
Ramdin says there are currently two major conflicts in the world, and it’s still challenging to find peace or at least a temporary ceasefire. He is happy that “we don’t have open conflicts in the Americas.
“We no longer have wars in the Western Hemisphere for many decades. We want to keep that as is. For that, you need a relevant institution that is important, and member states also accept that as a useful multilateral tool, an instrument to discuss issues, to iron out differences, and to build on something in the future, which is going to be a form of collaboration and joint action.
“Now that sentiment, many believe the OAS has weakened in that sense as well, and a lot has to do with the type of leadership and the type of organization which has been established.”
So, his first assignment, if elected, is to strengthen the Organization and reform it.
“There is a reform report already done by external consultants. The priorities have to be set by the member states, but that’s the first thing we need to do to improve on the stature the OAS used to have as an honest broker.
“We can’t take sides in conflicts. Otherwise, you’re not an honest broker, and those things have gone wrong in the past 10 years. From my experience, we were constantly engaged when I was there…together with Secretary General José Miguel Insulza.
“We had a dialogue with member states. We had to dialogue with different groups and societies. So, that is a role the leadership of the OAS should play to facilitate a process of resolution, strength, and collaboration. ”
Ramdin acknowledges that getting back to that environment “will take a lot of time because one country has left the OAS, and another country says they have left the OAS, but it’s still a matter of understanding exactly juridically what the case is. But those are not good things when organizations leave a multilateral framework.”
While he did not name the countries, Ramdin was no doubt referring to Venezuela and Cuba.
Venezuela is a member of the OAS, but it denounced the OAS Charter in April 2017. According to Article 143 of the OAS Charter, Venezuela would withdraw from the OAS two years after the notification date. But in 2019, Juan Guaidó, whom the United States and many other countries had regarded as Venezuela’s acting president, requested to remain a member.
The OAS has struggled to investigate human rights abuses in Venezuela. In 2020, the OAS General Assembly condemned Venezuela for undermining democracy.
Despite being a founding member of the OAS, Cuba was effectively suspended from January 31, 1962, to June 3, 2009, when the foreign ministers of OAS member countries at the OAS’s 39th General Assembly in Honduras passed a vote to lift Cuba’s suspension.
However, the Havana government, while welcoming the resolution, said that, in light of the Organization’s historical record, “Cuba will not return to the OAS.”
While he would not be drawn into extensive discussions regarding Cuba and Venezuela, Ramdin notes, “We, as a country—and I’m part of the Caribbean—we have diplomatic relations with the country, with the state of Venezuela, and many countries have that.
“We know that there is an issue in Venezuela that needs to be resolved that’s, in the first place, a domestic issue. It does have international implications in terms of migration. We have to look at the human rights situation and all of that. But you know, I’m always looking at keeping open lines of communication and maintaining dialogue. ”
He said this approach did not go well with the administration, which sits at the OAS. “If you isolate yourself from an engagement or dialogue with a country, then you do not have the opportunity; you have lost the opportunity willingly to influence. And we must have that conversation with Venezuela, the de facto leadership, which is there.
“We need to engage with them to see what can be done to at least come to a certain understanding of how the country and the international engagement can relate about Cuba. Cuba is a member of the OAS. The suspension was lifted a couple of years ago, many years ago. It is now up to Cuba to become an active member of the OAS as well,” Ramdin told CMC, adding, “I’m not shying away from it.
We’ll need to be very frank at the same time but engaging behind the scenes as much as possible to facilitate a discussion that can bring parties together. I don’t believe in making statements that do not help the process further, and we need to make sure that diplomacy works, and that can only happen when you consider it well on all sides.
“That’s a reality in our hemisphere; we have different countries. There are different agendas. Every single region has different agendas. Every country has different agendas,” Ramdin said, reiterating, “We need to make sure that we align as much as possible with the aim to go forward.”
“So my approach to this is always, what can we do to improve things? What can we do to progress and to find solutions? And that is the approach I will take.”
Ramdin said some issues cover country-related or general thematic areas that would have to be dealt with immediately, giving as an example, the situation in Haiti, where ever since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise on July 7, 2021, criminal gangs have stepped up their activities in a bid to overthrow the government in the French-speaking CARICOM country.
“Haiti. Haiti requires the full attention of the OAS because the goal of the OAS is to help countries build a stable environment, democracy, regular elections, and so on. In my time, we used to have mechanisms to discuss Haiti. All of that is gone. We’re going to re-establish that”.
The other pressing issue is migration, with Ramdin noting that “a lot of the discussions” on migration involve domestic conflicts, such as those in Venezuela and other parts of the hemisphere.
“It is a major issue for Central America because that’s the corridor through which people go to the United States. And you know, the discussions in the United States about migration”.
The Donald Trump administration has made migration a significant policy issue and has been rounding up and deporting many illegal immigrants back to their homeland. In addition, Washington has cut funding for many programs that have benefitted many people in the Americas.
“So my response to this is even stronger than before. Of course, we will need to take a serious look at the organizational structure of the OAS. We need to streamline and make the Organization fit for its available budget.
“We will need to look at that, and that means that we will have a serious discussion with member states about the mandate of the OAS. The original purpose of the OAS was to create peace and prosperity. So, in this case, democracy, security, and development are key…
“People feel that development, a good life, and a safe life are essential for them, too. Now, recognizing that we will need to streamline even more than before, even more than possibly the reports, the external consultancy report, which came out a couple of months ago, demonstrates. The positive thing is I know the Organization inside out. I have worked within the Organization. I have been in the leadership of the Organization.
“I have been on the political side of the Organization, so I know the institutional capabilities. In the lead-up to approving the budget, we agreed on specific cuts in terms of political leadership and advisory positions. I agree with that because I am going to work with the institution. ”
Ramdin said he intends to open dialogue with the United States, “and I have started with that already.
“I have good inroads in the new US administration. We know them from before. When we took office in Suriname in 2020, the Trump administration was in power, and we spoke with them then. We still have those contacts, and we have those discussions. They’re happening as we speak. There’s a different environment.
“There is a different view on multilateralism, but we must demonstrate to the United States that primary interests and significant goals can be achieved through a multilateral framework.
There may be some level of disbelief in that, but if we keep that dialogue ongoing, they will also realize that not all but certain areas of the OAS need to be continued and strengthened. ”
Ramdin says another immediate priority will be climate change, which is essential to the region.
“The OAS is not a development agency. We don’t have the money to support budgets or significant developments. However, we have the moral suasion to discuss these issues in the political discourse, which will help other organizations and others provide support.
“We must develop road maps on all these issues and apply new tools. When I say new tools, basically these tools, we already know, but they were not applied. We need to engage political leaders, retired presidents, and experts in helping the OAS,” Ramdin told CMC.
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