The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) approved this Friday the self-denunciation of its secretary general, Luis Almagrowho asked to be investigated last June, following a series of complaints received for having had a relationship with an officialthus violating the code of ethics.

“Those of us who hold leadership positions in relevant institutions such as the OAS have an obligation to show probity in our public records beyond any doubt, for this reason I myself asked to be investigated. We have to be and we have to look like them,” said the 59-year-old Uruguayan diplomat.

Almagro acknowledged the existence of that bond, which lasted three years, but denied any kind of favoritism towards him.. “I want to confirm one thing: practically everyone knew about the relationship, I went to diplomatic dinners accompanied by her. She was my partner for three years, on a personal level perhaps the best of my life, even if our relationship ended months ago “, he remarked.

Meanwhile, the investigation will focus specifically on acknowledging whether the woman in question has benefited from promotions, promotions and/or salary increases since the beginning of that relationship.

In the General Secretariat they ensure that, in any case, the opposite has occurred. “The curious thing is that maybe it can be said like this she was not benefited but even damaged by her relationship with Almagro”, confided a source.

Almagro was excessively meticulous on this point, so much so that the official lost opportunities for competition because he was against this happening during the relationship, even though he had deserved them given his high professional skills and educational qualifications.

Within this body, this question has triggered a series of positions taken against the application of this type of “ethical norms”, because it is understood that they do nothing but objectify women and prevent them from freely deciding who to fall in love with. , as they make the choice between love or advancement in your professional career.

The most radical in this thinking argue that “ultimately, the case demonstrates that the old social control of women continues to reproduce itself as always, now denying her the right to fall in love, intimidating her by exposing her privacy in public under the pretext of alleged ethical norms” .

“Ultimately, this is just today’s voyeurism, disguised as an ethical hypocrite. Investigating Almagro means interfering in the lives of two adults who have entered into a romantic relationship freely and voluntarily. But, in addition, it is a form of social control of women; As before, as always,” they insisted.

Other voices close to the General Secretariat have underlined the eminently political nature of this alleged scandal. “It’s very simple,” said one official, “in 2016, Maduro’s foreign minister came to the General Assembly in Santo Domingo with a draft resolution, which ultimately failed, to dismiss the secretary general. And now let’s think about who they are the governments that arrived at the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles last June with an agenda of only two themes: to protest the absence of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, and to propose the removal of the Secretary General of the OAS” .

“We cannot believe for a moment that opposing the dictatorships of the hemisphere does not have a political cost. The interruption of Almagro’s mandate is a recurring proposal, almost on the verge of ridiculousness since 2015″, concludes the source.

DB