The secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS) is facing increasing calls, including from the government of President Joe Biden, for an external investigation into possible misconduct over his intimate relationship with one of his subordinates.
The OAS’s own Washington-based inspector general said in a memo this week that it is in the organization’s best interest to hire an outside firm to investigate allegations that Secretary General Luis Almagro may have violated the internal code of ethics.
The inspector general’s recommendation was based on a report from Associated Press which discovered that Almagro had a relationship with a Mexican employee who was described, including on the organization’s website, as a “senior adviser” to the secretary general.
The inspector general said the AP report followed an anonymous and vaguely detailed complaint sent to his office by Almagro himself on June 3.
The code of ethics of the organization created for the consolidation of peace and democracy in America prohibits its directors from supervising or participating in decisions that benefit people with whom they have a romantic relationship.
The proposal to hire an outside firm to investigate Almagro’s behavior will be discussed Wednesday during the next meeting of the 34-member OAS Permanent Council.
The United States, which this year has contributed about half of the organization’s $100 million in funding, has already voiced support for an outside investigation ahead of the meeting.
“We take these allegations seriously,” a State Department spokesman told the AP. He added that any violation of OAS ethics standards “must be investigated in a fair and impartial manner by an appropriate external investigative entity.”
However, at least four members of the organization – Almagro’s native Uruguay, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize and Saint Lucia – have publicly endorsed draft resolutions that raise questions about the cost of an external investigation, at a time when the hemispheric body of 600 employees is under pressure to cut spending.
His point of reference is a recent investigation into allegations of similar misconduct against the president of the Inter-American Development Bank, Mauricio Claver-Carone, who was accused of having a long-standing relationship with his chief of staff. The months-long investigation by the US law firm Davis Polk found that Claver-Carone had violated ethics rules by favoring the aide, paving the way for the president’s impeachment.
Almagro’s repeated requests for comment on the possibility of an external investigation, sent to the secretary-general’s press office, went unanswered.
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