Peru Withdraws Its Candidate for OAS Chief

After not receiving enough support from other member states of the Organization of American States (OAS), Peru has decided Monday to withdraw the candidacy of its ambassador Hugo de Zela for the post of Secretary-General. 

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The Peruvian government announced in a statement they would step down from the contest arguing their candidate’s proposals were aimed to preserve institutionality, dialogue, and regional consensus.

On his part, De Zela thanked President Martin Vizcarra and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Gustavo Meza-Cuadra, who since November 2019 had supported this campaign.

With De Zela out, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and 73rd President of the United Nations General Assembly Maria Fernanda Espinosa will face current Secretary-General Luis Almagro on March 20, as member states will vote to either reelect or choose a new Secretary-General for the next five years.

Espinosa, during her address to the Permanent Council last month, promised to "evaluate with the States sensitive emerging issues before executing actions on behalf of the organization," as well as to "heal" the polarization of OAS.

She also expressed that she would promote a dialogue with a "road map" to end the crisis in Venezuela. "We need to communicate more and better by eliminating personal positions and reflecting the positions of the member states taken by resolutions," the diplomat added.

Her candidacy was presented not by Ecuador, which with the right-wing Lima Group members support Almagro, but by Antigua and Barbuda and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

While Uruguay’s Almagro seeks to compromise the 18 votes he needs to be confirmed in office. During the session, he defended his management stating that he has returned the institution to “its central place as a hemispheric political forum.”

Almagro has been fundamental in the United States-led plan against the progressive governments in the region. The diplomat has defended controversial tools such as economic sanctions against Venezuela, and the coup that ousted former President Evo Morales.
 
“His acts even lead to situations of very worrying human rights violations very worrying, such as the events that were triggered in Bolivia,” the Ecuadorean Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (Conaie) and the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (Coica) denounced last week.