Politics

OAS head under investigation for romance with staffer

Washington, Oct 7 (EFE).- The Organization of American States (OAS) is investigating Secretary General Luis Almagro for a long-term romantic relationship with a member of the staff, a source with knowledge of the matter confirmed to EFE on Friday.

The probe is looking into whether the liaison, which the source described as an open secret at OAS headquarters in Washington, violated the hemispheric body’s rules.

News of the investigation came as representatives of the member-states gathered in Lima for the OAS annual assembly.

The relevant OAS ethics guideline states that staff members must not engage in intimate relationships with colleagues or contractors in a manner that interferes “with the performance of their duties or to disadvantage others in the workplace.”

The unnamed woman involved with Almagro, formerly foreign minister of Uruguay, works in the OAS Secretariat for Strengthening Democracy and is not a direct subordinate of the secretary general, the source told EFE.

In their 2020 biography of Almagro, Martin Natalevich and Gonzalo Ferreira cite comments from the woman about her “very deep and very intense” connection with the 59-year-old OAS chief.

“Luis Almagro. No pide perdon” (“Luis Almagro Doesn’t Ask For Forgiveness”) includes this passage from the woman regarding the relationship with the secretary general: “I always tell him, ‘I am more intelligent because it took me no more than 38 years to get to know you, it took you about 50-something.'”

Two weeks ago, the governors of the Washington-based Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) voted to dismiss the institution’s president, Mauricio Claver-Carone, over a romance with a subordinate.

The IDB acted after a months-long investigation by an outside law firm found ample evidence of the affair. EFE mgr-pem/dr

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