(de Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO – The government will neither nominate nor support Albert Ramdin for Secretary-General of the Organization of American States (OAS) in 2015. Instead, it will support the Guyanese nominee for Assistant Secretary-General.
Diplomatic circles abroad are astonished by this development. Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Lackin confirms this decision, adding that he has personally informed Ramdin of this. At the recent 24th Caricom intersessional summit in Haiti, regional leaders were also officially informed that Suriname would not nominate a candidate for this important post. In the past three years, Ramdin, currently Assistant Secretary-General of the OAS, has lobbied intensely to win the support of Caricom member states should he be a candidate for the OAS’s highest post.
A foreign diplomat in the USA claims Prime Ministers of “some prominent Caricom counties” had already approached Ramdin and pledged their support for him. The Surinamese diplomat is also considered Caricom’s best chance to ever lead the OAS. Suriname’s decision not to support its own national is considered as a “betrayal” abroad. “It is unbelievable that Suriname is sacrificing one of its own to support a Guyanese national,” the source, who wishes to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of this matter, tells de Ware Tijd. “This thing is making Caricom a laughing stock.”
Lackin claims that after Ramdin had announced his ambitions for the OAS post, the government put out feelers to Caricom countries to estimate his chances. “We got the feeling that he did not enjoy the region’s full support, also because we did not really lobby on his behalf.” But the reality in the Americas was also considered; traditionally, the Secretary-General and Assistant do not come from the same region. The decision not to nominate Ramdin was made after consulting with President Desi Bouterse. “If your chances are not good, you won’t nominate a candidate,” Lackin says in defense of the government’s decision.
