Ramdin elected to head OAS
March 11, 2025
Surinamese Foreign Minister Albert Ramdin was elected secretary-general of the Organization of American States. He is the first Caribbean Community diplomat to lead the hemispheric organization, reports the Miami Herald.
Ahead of the race, Ramdin had received the unanimous endorsements of the 14 member Caribbean Community, and late last week he secured the support of Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombian and Uruguay. Ramdin was running against Paraguay Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez Lezcano, who reportedly pulled out of the race last week after being unable to secure the support of the U.S. Trump administration.
The rare consensus came after years of deep divisions under Secretary General Luis Almagro, who was widely criticized by leftist governments for aligning closely with the U.S., the OAS’ largest financial contributor, reports EFE.
For James Bosworth “the way in which he was elected represents Ramdin’s biggest strength and his biggest weakness: Secretary General Ramdin represents an older school of diplomacy within the OAS that values consensus. … Consensus sounds great until you ask “consensus at what cost?” The cost is often a lack of action or relevance.” (Latin America Risk Report)
Guatemala
Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora was returned to jail yesterday after an appellate court sided with prosecutors and withdrew his house arrest, reports the Associated Press. Zamora, the founder of El Periódico newspaper, had spent more than two years behind bars awaiting trial before a judge granted him house arrest in October. Zamora and free press advocates maintain that the prosecution is revenge for his newspapers corruption investigative work.
The decision “is a blatant act of judicial persecution. This case represents a dangerous escalation in the repression of independent journalism,” according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Venezuela
Venezuela’s government said it will no longer accept direct repatriation flights from the U.S., in response to President Donald Trump’s decision to revoke Chevron Corp’s license to operate in the South American country, reports Bloomberg.
Ecuador
Ecuador President Daniel Noboa said that his country will not receive deported migrants of other nationalities, and criticized Venezuela's president for allegedly rejecting flights of Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States. (Reuters)
Chile
Chilean center-left presidential hopeful Carolina Toha — former interior minister in the Boric administration — rose in two polls conducted immediately after her candidacy announcement last week. She has 12% and 10% according to Panel Ciudadano UDD and Cadem, respectively, up from 3% in February. She trailed center-right candidate Evelyn Matthei, who garnered 25% and 18%, and hard-right contenders Johannes Kaiser and Jose Antonio Kast. (Bloomberg)
Libertarian lawmaker Johannes Kaiser — who has been dubbed the Gabriel Boric of the right — is rising in the polls ahead of November’s presidential election amid rising concerns about crime and immigration. “He is the latest right-wing populist in Latin America to channel widespread frustration with crime, immigration and politics as usual, although his story has some distinctly Chilean twists,” writes Nick Burns in Americas Quarterly.
The Chilean Minister of National Defense, Maya Fernández, resigned yesterday amid the controversy over the failed purchase by the government of the house of her grandfather, President Salvador Allende. (EFE)
Cuba
Cuba released all 553 prisoners covered by a January Vatican-mediated agreement, despite the collapse of a United States pledge to ease sanctions in return. Rights groups had noted a gradual release of detainees over the past week, though noted that some appeared to be common criminals, reports Al Jazeera.
Regional Relations
“The United States calls Cuba’s medical internationalism "human trafficking" — but it’s really an internationalist lifeline for the Global South,” argues Helen Yaffe in Jacobin.
Colombia
Colombia called on the United Nations to remove coca from a list of harmful substances. Removing it from a 1961 UN list of harmful narcotics, where it sits alongside cocaine and heroin, would allow it to be used to “its full potential in industrial applications such as fertilisers and beverages”, foreign minister Laura Sarabia said in an address to the UN’s commission on narcotic drugs in Vienna. (Guardian)
Honduras
Honduras held presidential primaries on Sunday — though ballots were not yet all tallied yesterday, Defense Minister Rixi Moncada was on track to be the ruling LIBRE party’s candidate in November. Former Tegucigalpa Mayor Nasry Asfura is likely to be the conservative National party’s candidate, and Salvador Nasralla, had nearly 60% of the votes for the conservative Liberal party. (Associated Press)
“Sunday’s vote was plagued with problems. Some voting centers didn’t open until Sunday afternoon, prompting frustrated voters to burn tires in protest,” reports the Associated Press.
Argentina
Argentine President Javier Milei issued an executive decree pre-approving a loan agreement from the IMF, signaling the imminent conclusion of a long-awaited deal that is essential to his economic plan, reports the Financial Times. The executive order, which can only be overturned if both houses of congress vote to reject it, aims to allow Milei’s government to sign a deal whenever negotiations conclude.
Writing from Buenos Aires, The Nation editor D.D. Guttenplan notes the similarities between the Milei and Trump administrations: “So many moves in the Project 2025 playbook were tried out here first, from terminating state employees with probationary status to gutting and then shuttering entire government departments (including the housing ministry, despite skyrocketing rents and shrinking pensions forcing increasing numbers into poverty and homelessness).”
Seven medical professionals who tended to Diego Maradona during his final days are going on trial in Argentina, accused of criminal negligence over his death. (Guardian)
Regional
“This year’s Trinidad and Tobago carnival – which included the finals of the country’s steelpan competition and two days of hardcore reveling – highlighted a growing trend of collaboration between artists from Africa and the Caribbean, with musicians exploring the common threads of their cultural heritage at a time when the campaign for reparations has brought about a closer look at historical ties,” reports the Guardian.
Mexico
Trump’s tariff threats have only made Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, even more popular — her approval rating now stands at 85% — and has facilitated “the previously unthinkable: the creation of a broad popular front,” writes Kurt Hackbarth in Jacobin.
Guardianas del Conchalito, or guardians of the shells, is a group of women in Mexico’s Baja California state who defied drug-dealers, fly-tippers and chauvinists to build a thriving sustainable shellfish business — Guardian
Peru
Former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo said that he was beginning a hunger strike in protest of the start of an oral trial against him for the alleged crime of rebellion. The prosecution has requested 34 years in prison for the former president, reports the Associated Press.
Critter Corner
“The population of eastern monarch butterflies – who migrate from Canada and the US to Mexico during the winter – has nearly doubled over the last year, according to a recent report commissioned in Mexico, generating optimism among nature preservationists.” (Guardian)