Editorial | Albert Ramdin’s challenges

Hopefully, Albert Ramdin’s unanimous election as secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS) marks a return to balanced leadership of the organisation, after the polarising presence of Luis Almagro, who has served for a decade.

However, as ecstatic as many will be to see the back of the former Ecuadorian politician, Mr Ramdin’s election is not without the possibility of complications for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

The first, and simplest, of these is the election next month of the OAS’s assistant secretary general to succeed the outgoing incumbent, the Belizean Nestor Mendez. Given the convention on the regional spread of the OAS’ top posts, with the elevation of Mr Ramdin, a citizen of a CARICOM country (although Suriname sits on the shoulder of South America), his deputy will in all likelihood go to someone from Latin America. Although it sits in Central America, bordered by Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras, Belize, a former British colony, is a member of CARICOM and identifies with the insular Caribbean.

This newspaper’s larger concern, however, is the implications for Mia Mottley’s candidacy for secretary general of the United Nations, when António Guterres’ term concludes at the end of 2026.

Ms Mottley, the prime minister of Barbados, has not indicated any interest in the job. But The Gleaner believes, as we have said several times in recent years, that she would be excellent at the post, which will be open at the around the same time she completes her second term as head of government.

One likely concern now would be over the fairness of having Caribbean nationals, a small region with a relative small population, being, at the same time, secretaries general of the OAS and the UN

STICKING POINT

A more crucial sticking point, perhaps, is whether a Mottley candidacy, given her outspoken advocacy for the reform of global governance reform and climate justice, would find favour with the United States, especially under the leadership of Donald Trump. Which also raises questions about how Mr Ramdin’s election finally unfolded, and whether there were longer-term strategic moves at play.

Mr Ramdin, himself a former assistant secretary of the OAS (2005-2015, under Chilean Secretary General José Miguel Insuza) was the clear favourite for the post. He had the support of 14 CARICOM members of the organisation, so only needed the support of four other countries to clinch the election.

However, Paraguay’s Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez Lezcano, who had the implicit support of the United States, was also in the race, until he dropped out almost at the last minute. Paraguayans seem to lay some of the blame for the decision on the withdrawal of promised support of some countries, including Brazil and Uruguay.

There will possibly now be questions of whether, despite the hurdles he faced within the OAS, Mr Ramírez Lezcano’s withdrawal was also a strategic retreat: for a run, with US support, for the UN’s top job when Mr Guterres’ tenure ends.

Whatever may have been the calculations leading up to his election, Mr Ramdin has serious matters to attend to. His first priority must be the restoration of trust and confidence of all members in the OAS.

Mr Almagro behaved like a partisan in the internal disputes, especially with regard to the political crisis in Venezuela. He went so far, as CARICOM complained in 2019, as usurping the authority of member states by unilaterally recognising Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s head of government.

CRISIS

The Venezuela crisis remains outstanding in the face of a new, again-disputed presidential election that kept Nicolás Maduro in power. This time, though, no one has claimed to be the interim president of Venezuela who has a supposed representative seated at the OAS. Indeed, the question of Venezuelan membership of the organisation remains, at least for some members, unresolved, given that Mr Maduro’s government had served notice of its withdrawal.

The deepening security crisis and political instability in Haiti, where criminal gangs control most of the capital, and large swathes of the countryside, is another matter that awaits Mr Ramdin. The OAS has had a back-seat role in that situation.

Of course, much of the effectiveness of the OAS, and Mr Ramdin’s capacity to get things done, will depend on the posture of the United States, its most powerful member.

Marco Rubio, Mr Trump’s secretary of state, in a message welcoming Mr Ramdin, staked out America’s agenda for the organisation, including confronting “the corrupt authoritarian regimes in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua”.

“To this end, we will advocate for institutional reforms to enhance the OAS’s efficiency and effectiveness, ensuring its continued role as our region’s premier multilateral forum,” Mr Rubio said.

Mr Ramdin, clearly, will face serious challenges. But he brings to the role great experience, as well as a calmness and equanimity that some who know him say often belies steely resolve. Importantly, he starts without obvious hostility from any OAS member.