Miami, United States.- A group of US congressmen said Wednesday that there are strong suspicions that the Secretary General of the Organization of American States may have engaged in irregularities in the exercise of his duties and urged the United States to immediately launch a thorough investigation.
The request comes at a time when the leadership of the OAS is under intense scrutiny and the organization is preparing to receive a report of another external investigation that seeks to determine if Luis Almagro violated the code of ethical conduct by maintaining an intimate relationship with a junior employee, which The Associated Press was the first outlet to report.
The eight legislators from the progressive wing of the Democratic ruling party made the request to investigate Almagro in a two-page letter sent to the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, and the US ambassador to the OAS, Francisco Mora, to which AP had access.
They listed a series of “highly credible” public accusations about “wrongdoings far more egregious and damaging” than romance, which have already been reported and yet went uninvestigated. They assured that, if confirmed, they could be grounds for sanctioning or dismissing Almagro.
Among the accusations listed in the letter are alleged irregular agreements with a former President of Honduras, unsubstantiated accusations of alleged electoral fraud in Bolivia and the dismissal of officials of the inter-American system.
“It is imperative that the administration immediately support investigations into these additional allegations,” the congressmen said.
“Each of the alleged irregularities cited is extremely worrying and could, by itself, constitute sufficient grounds to sanction Mr. Almagro and remove him from office,” they said.
Among the signatories are legislators Henry “Hank” Johnson of Georgia; Susan Wild, from Pennsylvania; Cori Bush, from Missouri; Ihan Omar, from Minnesota; Jan Schakowsky, from Illinois; Ayanna Pressley, from Massachusetts; Rashida Tlaib, from Michigan, and Eleanor Holmes Norton, from the District of Columbia.
It is not clear if they invited fellow Republicans to sign the letter and did not get their support or if it was just an initiative of the Democrats.
