The membership of the Organization of American States (OAS) is to vote on Mondy, 10 March 2025 for the replacement of Uruguayan Luis Almagro, who served two five-year terms. The OAS has 34 voting members and 18 votes are needed to win in the secret vote.
As of late, Albert Ramdin of Suriname is the only candidate. He has been minister of foreign relations of Suriname since 2020. The rules of the OAS elections allow for candidates to declare themselves on the day of the election.
The Dominican Republic has announced its backing of frontrunner Albert Ramdin, who had served as OAS assistant secretary general from 2005 to 2015. Ramdin is said to have the backing of the 14 Caribbean member states. A recent report in Americas Quarterly highlights that the Caribbean has 14 of the 18 needed votes to win, but minimal financial leverage and contributes just 0.8% of the US$99.2 million budget.
For the Dominican Republic, the future of Haiti is the priority issue. When Ramdin served as assistant secretary general his position was that Haitians in Haiti should decide their future and that Haiti should see in the Dominican Republic a supporting partner as it seeks to move forward and develop.
Ramdin had been competing against Rubén Ramírez Lezcano, Paraguay’s foreign minister and a former ambassador to the UN, who has also held key positions at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF).
Yet in time, Ramdin gained more support, even from South American countries. As reported, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile and Uruguay had announced they would back Ramdin.
The future of the OAS is also uncertain. At present, 60% of its funding comes from the United States.
Historically, the Dominican Republic has suffered from the OAS decisions. In 1965, the OAS authorized sending troops to the Dominican Republic to impede the restoration of the democratically-elected government of Juan Bosch.
The Dominican Republic government has had its clashes with the outgoing secretary general Luis Almagro. Almagro openly supported Haitian migration to the Dominican Republic and had spoken up against Dominican sovereignty. “… after all, it [Hispaniola] is an island, and generally when there is a single island there should not be two countries, but rather only one country, even if it is big island, such as Australia,” Almagro told CNN Espanol in an interview on 13 July 2015, that coincided with the last day of the DR-Haiti OAS mission at the time.
The Dominican Republic in recent years has sought to improve its relations with the Caricom countries, a considerable market for Dominican produce. The ties were broken when Caricom refused membership to the country while at the same time demanding the Dominican Republic take in more Haitian migration. Haiti is a Caricom member, but Caricom nations have not been open to Haitian migration.
In 2023, Caricom took a leadership role in seeking a transitional government for Haiti. But the situation in Haiti has stagnated and violence continues to rule.
Read more:
El Caribe
Americas Quarterly
OAS
10 March 2025