CARICOM goes after top position in OAS

The Caribbean bloc at the Organization of American States (OAS) is planning to make its biggest ever push to ensure that a regional candidate is elected to the top position in the Organization of American States (OAS) next year with leaders saying it is time for Caribbean diplomats to cease serving as deputies.

With this in mind the 15-nation bloc has already given its blessing to current Surinamese Foreign Minister Albert Ramdin as its candidate for secretary general. Ramdin, a veteran diplomat who has also served as an assistant secretary general at CARICOM’s bloc headquarters in Guyana, is well known in the world of the OAS having served two consecutive five-year terms from 2005-2015 and remains on course to be the first from the region to run the 34-nation hemispheric body. The OAS is based in Washington DC. Elections for a new secretary general will be held next year.

At their summit in Guyana late last month, regional leaders unanimously endorsed the nomination of Ramdin to run as secretary general.

Once it works as a united bloc, CARICOM has 14 votes and only requires the support of four other nations to secure the position. Officials say they expect this to happen and are counting on friendly nations like Brazil, Mexico and at least two others. Ramdin would not be drawn on which countries have pledged support for him to go along with the 14 from CARICOM but he remains hopeful and is confident that this could be the time for the Caribbean to step up to the top position. Previous secretaries general have come from mostly from Latin American nations, triggering disquiet in CARICOM that the needs of the region are not highlighted as these should be.

As head ‘honcho,’ Ramdin says his first tasks and ambitions would be to help rebuild cohesion in the hemispheric body and work assiduously to bring back Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela into the fold. Communist Cuba remains suspended from the organization as has been the case for nearly six decades, while Nicaragua completed its withdrawal from the body last year, having given signals that it would have two years earlier. Venezuela on the other hand first announced plans to withdraw back in 2017 and has remained inactive ever since.

“So one of my first tasks would be to attempt to bring back these countries into the family. We can agree to disagree on issues. We need to rebuild the trust of the states and to bring back the relevance of the institution in the hemisphere. Multilateralism is a requirement, not an option,” Ramdin said, noting that different groups on the body have different requirements and needs, citing the different needs of the Caribbean, for example, compared to Latin America.

Previous Caribbean assistants included Val Mcomie of Barbados 1980-90, Chris Thomas of Trinidad 1990-2000, Ramdin 2005-2015 and incumbent Nester Mendez of Belize from 2015.