Democracy finds its way into Latin America

The often-overlooked Organization of American States has done much in recent years to rehabilitate itself and begin delivering on its promise to be a strong advocate for democracy and human rights in the Americas.

That’s why it is so important that the OAS get beyond its current leadership crisis, preferably by finding a new secretary-general who has the requisite stature and integrity to advance the organization’s mission.

Former Colombian President Cesar Gaviria was an able steward of the OAS for 10 years. But Gaviria’s successor as secretary-general, former Costa Rican President Miguel Angel Rodriguez, was recently forced to step down after less than a month on the job, in response to accusations of corruption back home.

It’s worrisome that some of the more capable Latin American statesmen — such as ex-presidents Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico and Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil — do not seem to be on the short list of candidates to replace him. Someone of the sta-ture of Zedillo or Cardoso would be able to reform the institution’s bureaucracy and bolster its profile.

The spread of democracy throughout Latin America in the last 20 years was a remarkable achievement. The OAS’ role in refereeing a credible presidential election in a deeply divided Nicaragua in 1990 was pivotal to the regional trend and to the organization’s credibility.

Since then, the institution has made election monitoring one of its key missions. Now it is essential that it step up its defense of the rule of law.

Since the 1994 Summit of the Americas, the OAS has also been an incubator of and cheerleader for hemispheric free trade.

The next leader of the organization has to be not only above reproach but able to keep the nations of the OAS, many of them with fragile democratic institutions, committed to economic integration.

This editorial appeared in
The Los Angeles Times