A major row has erupted in the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington, DC, with officials accusing the Trump administration of trying to wrest daily control of the hemispheric body with outrageous demands, including the right to be present at private executive meetings and requests for a permanent office for its ambassador, top officials said Thursday.
The simmering feud is ongoing just days before the organization’s general assembly meeting in Panama, beginning on Monday, with the issue threatening to take center stage during the three days of sessions.
At heart of the issue are charges and allegations about corruption, nepotism and official mismanagement on the part of Secretary General Albert Ramdin. Surinamese-born Ramdin, 68, the first person from the Caribbean to hold the top position and elected a year ago, is adamant that a concerted effort is being made to either undermine his authority or to boot him from the 35-nation hemispheric body because he has been resisting pressure for daily control of the organization from the administration through its ambassador Leandro Rizzuto Jr.
Caribbean ambassadors have accused Rizutto of trying to bully his way into the daily operations of the body, demanding a permanent office in the main headquarters building and the right to sit in on private executive meetings hosted by Ramdin with delegations from member countries. They argue that if any of these requests are granted, ambassadors from other member states can also make similar demands, severely disrupting daily operations and departing from precedent.
And in a major twist to the saga, the State Department has revoked the visa of Ramdin’s chief of staff, Xaviera Jessurun, allegedly because she is at the center of a major probe back home over alleged financial mismanagement at state-run Surinam Airways and has ordered her to leave Washington in the coming days.
Reacting officially on Thursday, the OAS charged in a statement that its charter bans the executive from taking instructions “from any government or from any authority outside the organization and shall refrain from any action that may be incompatible with their position as international officers responsible only to the organization.”
The row is expected to take center stage at next week’s general assembly meeting in Panama with fears that the US is trying to exert its influence on the organization because it pays up to half of the annual budget.
In its statement, Ramdin said he would welcome an independent probe “to discuss the terms of a formal, independent investigation, if the member states so desire.”
Dismissing allegations of corruption and lavish spending, Ramdin said in his statement that internal audits have not unearthed anything.
“No such irregularities have been found in the first year of the secretary general’s tenure, and until the inspector general issues audit findings, any claim regarding financial governance is unsubstantiated and politically speculative,” Ramdin said.
