PL

Havana, Mar 26 (RHC) Former Justice Minister and Bolivian ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), Héctor Arce, said Saturday that the regional body and its secretary general, Luis Almagro, are suffering their worst moment.

The former head described Almagro's actions as "disastrous" and accused him of promoting an "interventionist policy" in the American nations, to the point of leading Nicaragua and Venezuela to withdraw from the organization.

"When Luis Almagro enters the OAS for the first time (in 2015) it was made up of 35 countries, now it is made up of 32; beyond the situation of Cuba, two countries, Venezuela and Nicaragua, have withdrawn from the organization (...)", he reiterated.

The diplomat attributed the cause of these withdrawals "to the interventionist eagerness and the agenda deeply charged with an interest contrary to progressive governments".

He added that Almagro recognized an ambassador of a phantom government (...) as the parallel group that the Venezuelan opposition set up with Juan Guaidó as the visible face and the manipulation of the United States, but which in December 2022 was suppressed.

Arce meant that to those misdeeds was added the "most serious" in Almagro's actions, the coup d'état in Bolivia with an illegal report that was issued about alleged manipulation in the 2019 general elections. However, it was never proven and propitiated the Armed Forces and Police to insubordinate against a constitutional government.

He qualified as illegal the "preliminary report" published by Almagro without Bolivia's consent, which was not part of the agreement signed with the Plurinational State on the audit of the results of the October 2019 elections.

The ambassador recalled that at least seven studies by universities in the United States and other countries and specialized institutions established "that the conclusions of that preliminary report, which cost the country democracy, were false".

Additionally, against Almagro's ethics was added a journalistic investigation, which confirmed that the secretary general of the OAS traveled between July 2018 and December 2019 at least 34 times with an advisor with whom he had an extra-professional relationship. (Source: PL)