Almagro did not commit a crime for his romance with a subordinate: investigation

An external investigation determined that the OAS Secretary General, Luis Almagro, displayed poor judgment in having a romantic relationship with a younger employee, but that he did not favor her on salary issues or with personal decisions, according to a copy of the review to the what youhe Associated Press had access.

The conclusions about the behavior of Almagro appear in a 121-page report delivered Monday to OAS member states. And while the document did not absolve him of all the accusations, Almagro says it puts an end to an issue that has divided regional governments and threatened to distract the democracy-promoting body from its mission.

“At all times I acted with the utmost transparency, putting the interests of the organization first and respecting the rules,” Almagro said in a 10-page response that was included with the report. One person shared a copy of the document with the PA on the condition of anonymity because the report has not yet been made public.

The investigation began after the PA revealed last October that Almagro, 59, had a long relationship with a Mexican collaborator 20 years younger than him, a relationship that, although it was practically public, was considered by some members of the Washington-based organization as a comeback to a time of rampant machismo in a workplace.

The investigation, conducted by Washington-based law firm Miller & Chevalier, blamed Almagro for allowing the woman — whom she PA does not identify by name at the request of the OAS — called herself an “adviser” to the Secretary General, despite the fact that she did not report directly to him and that this title was reserved for a handful of collaborators.

The woman also accompanied Almagro on 42 of the 92 official trips he made during the almost four years that their relationship lasted, giving the impression, both inside and outside the organization, that she was a reliable collaborator who enjoyed preferential treatment. .

“The external investigation revealed that the Secretary General was aware of this and took no action to prevent this perception from growing further,” the report states.

However, the investigation found no evidence that Almagro influenced the women’s salary increases, which were proportional to positive evaluations of her performance, some of them predating her relationship with Almagro.

In addition, according to the investigators, the couple took “due precautions” not to break any rules, and even filed a conflict of interest statement in March 2022 stating that their relationship did not interfere with their work obligations. Soon after they broke up and the woman went on unpaid leave.

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