OAS head Luis Almagros new term promises more corruption, cronyism and
coup-plotting
The shocking story of the most incompetent, unethical and imperial-minded
Secretary General in the history of the Organization of American States.
The following is a translated version of an article that has circulated
widely in Spanish-language media. Authored by an anonymous individual with
apparent inside knowledge of OAS affairs, it has been edited and adapted by
The Grayzone to bring closer attention to the disturbing record of Luis
Almagro.
In a result that surprised no one, the US-favored Luis Almagro was
re-elected as Secretary General of the Organization of American States
(OAS). For the next five years, Almagro will lead the oldest multilateral
organization in the world, overseeing the affairs of member states
comprising the Western hemisphere.
Almagro has been the most unethical and inconsistent OAS Secretary General
in recent times. Within the OAS, there is widespread questioning of his
administration. But with US government the main financial backer of the
OAS fully behind him, he has run roughshod over all opposition with his
agenda.
The Secretary General passionately invokes the principles of democracy and
human rights, quoting the American Convention on Human Rights, the
Democratic Charter, the Inter-American Convention against Corruption. But in
his actions, he flagrantly contravenes his lofty rhetoric.
Every move Almagro makes appears designed to cultivate a personal image
which facilitates his professional ambitions, and advances the role he has
been told to play in the international arena by his US puppet masters.
Vanity is a defining characteristic of Almagro, built from the belief that
he is now the most influential leader of an international organization with
a social media presence. He pioneered the use of Twitter at the OAS, as if
international politics could be carried out through social media, while
ignoring the real actors who are the democratically elected authorities of
the Americas. Through his obsession with virtual politics, ignoring
legitimate representatives and the will of the people, he has revealed his
contempt for democracy.
Almagros eagerness for power vaulted him to the leadership of the OAS. Back
in 2015, he thrust himself into a contest that was colored by the first
stage of open conflict between the United States and Venezuela, and the
international optimism derived from the resumption of diplomatic contacts
between Washington and Havana. He marketed himself as the only candidate
capable of transcending the political and ideological differences between
the various members of the organization he sought to lead.
Almagro enjoyed a positive international reputation at the time. He had
served a term as foreign minister in the leftist government of Uruguayan
President José Mujica, and had cultivated support from hemispheric leaders,
both from the left and the right.
His candidacy offered a portents of what was to come for the organization,
as it is clear that it was his campaign team ran a cut-throat operation with
the support of the US government to undermine any potential challenger.
Following the resignation of Diego García Sayán of Peru, Almagro was the
only man left standing. He took over as secretary general without a
challenge.
Almagro stated in his inaugural speech on May 26, 2015 that he was not
interested in being the administrator of the OAS crisis, but rather the
facilitator of its renewal. His predecessor as OAS Secretary General, José
Miguel Insulza, had prepared the OAS for sweeping reforms that he called
the strategic vision. However, Almagro placed a halt on the process of
reforms almost as soon as he replaced Insulza.
At various times during his campaign, he said that in order to recover the
credibility of the OAS, he would resign ahead of the 2020 election campaign.
He said that it was healthy to renew the organization every five years with
new perspectives and fresh dynamics. Today, however, we see Almagro entering
his second term as Secretary General.
Almagros management has compounded the organizations longstanding
institutional crisis. The regular budget of the OAS has not increased and,
on the contrary, continues to rely on contributions from the government of
the United States.
Hoping to guarantee the independence of the OAS, member states proposed
quotas of contributions. But Almagro stringently avoided the matter of
independence, ensuring that today, it is no longer discussed inside the
organization This is largely consequence of his obsession with advancing
regime change in Venezuela.
The OAS has a complex normative system from its founding charter to the
declarations, conventions, and decisions of presidential summits, as well as
systems guaranteeing the protection of rights through the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights. But under Almagro, these efforts have been
superseded by his focus on political affairs.
The integral development agenda, for example, has been forgotten under
Almagros leadership. The OAS has been absent from major international
debates where the hemisphere could have had a strong voice, including on
issues that unite the Americas and the Caribbean.
Rather than assuming leadership to advance much-needed reforms of the OAS,
Almagro abandoned them to build his personal image and position himself as a
global player.
Almagro recruits cronies, the incompetent, and corrupt
A reduction in resources under Almagros watch caused a massive brain drain,
with capable staff members leaving in droves. As the competent exited the
OAS, the secretary general filled the organization with friends and
political cronies dating back to his time as Uruguays foreign minister.
The circle around Almagro today is almost entirely Uruguayan. It includes
the following figures:
Diego Canepa, former Assistant Secretary of the Uruguayan Presidency.
Luis Porto, former Undersecretary of Economy and also former Vice-Chancellor
of Uruguay.
Gabriel Bidegain, former itinerant ambassador in Mujicas administration.
Sergio Jellinek, publicist and social media specialist. He is the man behind
the construction of Almagros online image.
Gonzalo Koncke, former representative of Uruguay to the United Nations.
Other recruits include the former Undersecretary of Health, Leonel Briozzo,
and the former Minister of Defense, Luis Rosadilla.
Luis Porto, one of Almagros closest confidants, was appointed senior
advisor on strategy and organizational development at the OAS. He has a
documented history of shady contracts and corruption, which led to his
sanctioning and disqualification from public service. Portos friend,
Washington Abdala, then a deputy for Uruguays Colorado Party, seems to have
been key in lifting his sanctions. These favors over time appear to have
been paid for with OAS contracts.
Juan Washington Abdala Remerciari, an Uruguayan lawyer popularly known as
Washington The Turk Abdala, was appointed by Almagro as his special
representative for the territorial conflict between Guatemala and Belize.
This gave Abdala the rank of ambassador, and with a lucrative salary and
all-expense-paid travel. He was previously hired with funds from the MACCIH,
the Mission to Support the Fight against Corruption and Impunity in
Honduras, but without consulting its authorities.
Abdala has since turned into a YouTube comedian known for his impersonations
of cartoon characters like Batman. His trajectory provides a clear picture
of the seriousness of Almagros clique.
The number of Uruguayans that Almagro has packed into the OAS missions is
impressive. Among them are Juan Pablo Corlazzoli (El Salvador), Edgardo
Ortuño (Costa Rica), Juan Raúl Ferreira (Haiti), Sergio Abreu (Peru),
Wilfredo Penco (Nicaragua), among others.
Other Uruguayans, such as lawyers Marta Pachiotti and Beatriz Otero, were
placed in influential positions at the MACCIH.
Besides the cronyism they embody, there is also an issue of professional
competency.
Almagro personally recruited Marta Pachiotti to the OAS, appointing her as
director of the Criminal Justice Observatory at the MACCIH. However, within
the mission itself, many people pointed out that Pachiotti did not have the
slightest idea of how the area she had been assigned would work. He
cluelessness eventually became an obstacle to the basic functions of the
observatory.
Pachiotti spent most of her time traveling to other countries for personal
interest, paying people in the institution to do her work. Her underlings
characterized her as a racist and classist person, as evidenced by the audio
published by the Peruvian politician, Julio Arbizu, which later forced
Almagro to remove her from the MACCIH. Once again, the human rights
discourse of Almagro and his friends was revealed as hollow and
opportunistic.
The Uruguayans in Almagros inner circle are not the only questionable
characters at the OAS. There is also the Mexican Francisco Guerrero, who
occupied the key secretariat of Political Affairs that Almagro later
renamed, the Secretariat for the Strengthening of Democracy.
Guerrero is a militant of Mexicos PRI. In the last election cycle in his
country, he served as an advisor to the presidential campaign of the
candidate José Antonio Meade.
His background raises an important question: how is it possible that a high
official of the OAS can become an advisor to the campaign of a candidate of
a member country, and still serve as the head of the area where the
electoral observation missions are set up? Lets not forget that the OAS
observed the elections in Mexico. It is evident that there was a serious
conflict of interest here.
Guerrero also happens to be a friend of Jacobo Domínguez Gudini (also from
the PRI), who was appointed to work at the MACCIH. Domínguez was expelled by
Honduran civil society for campaigning alongside politicians from the
countrys governing National Party, thus compromising the independence of
the OAS mission. Yet after being kicked out of Honduras, he was hired under
direct orders by Luis Almagro to work at the OAS headquarters in Washington
to the tune of over $10,000 a month.
We cannot forget that Domínguez also worked in the administration of
Mexicos Veracruz state, Javier Duarte the worst governor in history
who was sentenced to nine years in prison for money laundering, criminal
association, and a long parade of atrocities.
Domínguez campaigns alongside Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez,
compromising the OASs mission
A group of experts from from American University in Washington DC published
a June 2018 report that directly blamed Almagro for the obstacles and
failures of the MACCIH. The report concluded, In short, the choice of the
OAS as the managing entity of MACCIH worked as critics feared. Its political
trajectory has reflected a weak and divided OAS run by an impetuous and
inconsistent Secretary General.
Almagros Venezuela obsession divides the OAS and violates its charter
The interventions by Almagro in the internal politics of OAS member
countries has completely reversed diplomatic advances in the resolution of
disputes, deepening the division of the continent.
Under Almagros leadership, the hemisphere has become polarized around the
issue Venezuela. The unilateral strategies of the organization and the
actions of the Secretary General himself have proven to be a colossal
failure. Confrontation and polarization have shattered the trust of the
parties towards the OAS, broken trust between them, and dissolved important
spaces for dialogue.
In a shocking breach of his diplomatic mandate, Almagro threatened a
military intervention to overthrow the elected government of Venezuelan
President Nicolas Maduro in September 2018.
His position represented an explicit violation of the OAS charter and the
organizations raison dêtre, as articulated in Article 21: The territory
of a state is inviolable and may not be subjected, even temporarily, to
military occupation or other measures of force taken by another state,
directly or indirectly, for any reason whatsoever. Article 3 stipulates
that the personality, sovereignty and independence of states must be
respected.
Almagros haughty behavior has generally undermined an array of
organizational commitments to resolve conflicts through diplomacy and
peaceful means.
His obsession with Venezuela has eroded his leadership and distracted the
organization from addressing shared threats to the region. It is clear that
the strategy followed to date and Almagros polarizing and
hyper-confrontational role have not contributed to solving the political
crisis in Venezuela. His re-election is certain to exacerbate the situation
in the country, where a sector of the opposition has entered talks with the
government against stringent opposition by Washington.
While Almagro focused his energy on regime change in Venezuela, the OAS
failed to take a firm position in defense of migrants rights despite
thousands of deaths and countless human rights violations against them.
A record of disaster sets the stage for a future of conflict
From a diplomatic point of view, a mind-boggling array of mistakes were
made, most of them with serious implications for the internal situation of
countries in the OAS:
Almagro generated a very sensitive conflict between Haiti and the Dominican
Republic by not recognizing the sovereign spaces of both countries that
share the island.
He praised the pardon of former Peruvian dictator Alberto Fujimori,
tormenting the victims of violence committed by his regime. Almagro did so
despite having spoken out against the pardon days before.
He called for new elections in Honduras in 2017, then recognized the
US-backed government even after the OAS itself found evidence of widespread
fraud.
Almagro cut off the head of the MACCIH in Honduras, Juan Jiménez Mayor, in a
surprising move, resulting in a devastating letter from Mayor accusing
Almagro of essentially abandoning the mission.
He secretly negotiated the Honduran governments support for sanctions
against Venezuela at the OAS, in exchange for the weakening of the MACCIH, a
mission established by the OAS itself, whose investigations were beginning
to embarrass the US-backed Honduran president and his cronies.
In 2017 he cut a deal with the then-president of Brazil, Michael Temer, to
use the money from his countrys massive debt to the OAS to finance the
actions of the IACHR against Venezuela. In return, Brazil received the
silence of the OAS in the face of the serious social situation and numerous
corruption scandals taking place under Temers watch.
Almagro recognized Juan Guaido as interim president of Venezuela without the
consent of the majority of the member states
He issued a report declaring alleged irregularities and violations that
occurred in the electoral process in Bolivia that led directly to the coup
détat in the country, generating an internal conflict that ended the lives
of 35 Bolivians. The report has been thoroughly discredited by researchers
from MIT and the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
For the past five years, Almagro has served the United States government and
his own ambitions. His opinions and actions have not been the result of
consultations with the majority of the member states of the OAS, but of his
personal positions or those of his backers in Washington.
Almagro has led the organization to a dead end, shattering the possibilities
of Latin American and Caribbean integration. Elected to a second term, he is
all but certain plunge the hemispheric body into an unprecedented regional
confrontation.
