Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center Director Peter Schechter writes for the Miami Herald on the election of a new secretary-general for the Organization of American States:
On March 18, member countries of the Organization of American States will elect a new secretary-general who will face the daunting challenge of turning around the 66-year-old institution. This election is critical because the OAS is at the proverbial end of the line.
The OAS must undergo radical reforms if it is to again become a hemispheric reference point. Except for its excellent human-rights commission and election observers, the OAS has increasingly become irrelevant. Former Guatemalan Vice President Eduardo Stein, until recently a candidate for the top job at the OAS, openly questioned “whether reform of the Organization is still really possible and feasible.”