Dutch-speaking Suriname is the smallest independent nation in South America. Rainforests cover 94% of its area, and its biodiversity is exceeded only by its ethnic richness—an unusual mix of East Indian, European, Javanese, Maroon, Creole, Chinese and Amerindian.

And now, Suriname has a new claim to fame: its foreign minister, 67-year-old Albert Ramchand Ramdin, has been chosen secretary-general of the Organization of American States (OAS).

Ramdin’s ascent as head of the OAS—founded April 30, 1948, in Bogotá, Colombia—marks the first time in 77 years that its secretary-general hails from one of the 15 member states of another bloc: the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). All the other men who have held that post came from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Uruguay and the United States.

“Let’s join hands and mobilize our capabilities,” Ramdin said in a March 10 acceptance speech to the OAS General Assembly. “I hope you’re on the same path with me, to take things forwards not backwards, united not divided.”

Ramdin seems especially well-suited for the job, which takes effect May 25 and runs until 2030, with the possibility of a five-year extension.

After serving as Suriname’s permanent representative to the OAS from 1997 to 1999, Ramdin was principal advisor to OAS Secretary-General César Gaviria of Colombia from 2001 to 2004. And from 2005 to 2015, he was assistant secretary-general of the OAS under Chile’s José Miguel Insulza. Earlier in his career, he held the same post at CARICOM, most of whose member states are small English-speaking Caribbean islands.

In a wide-ranging interview from his DC office, Ramdin promised to revive multilateralism—at a time when multilateralism is not very popular. His appointment comes just six weeks after the inauguration of Donald Trump as president of the United States, which funds around half of the organization’s $100 million annual budget.

“Most of the Caribbean countries are small islands, but because they’re small, they’re not seen as threatening and they can build bridges,” he told the Washington Diplomat. “Suriname is geographically part of the South American continent but culturally much more aligned with CARICOM. So we can be that bridge. I believe that’s what is necessary today.”

Ramdin will certainly have his hands full. Multiple hotspots loom, from chaos and violence in Haiti to political repression in Venezuela—not to mention longer-term issues like immigration, poverty and climate change. Hanging over it all is the unspoken threat that Trump might punish the OAS if it doesn’t hew to his wishes when it comes to US policy in the Western Hemisphere.

“The 34 member states of the OAS are the shareholders. Some have higher shares than others because of the political weight they bring,” said Ramdin. “But we cannot choose sides. If you want to be an honest broker, your focus should be on how to facilitate dialogue and connection, bring people and countries together, and build a momentum for solutions. That’s our role.”

Ramdin replaces Uruguay’s Luís Almagro, whose 10-year term ends on May 25. During Almagro’s tenure, two countries pulled out of the organization—Venezuela under President Nicolás Maduro in 2017, and Nicaragua under President Daniel Ortega in 2023. Ramdin ran unopposed for the office after the only other serious contender, Paraguayan Foreign Minister Rubén Dario Ramírez Lezcano, withdrew just five days before the election was scheduled.

Ramdin—who speaks fluent Spanish in addition to English and Dutch—is widely considered to be less controversial and more of a consensus-builder than was Almagro, who took strong positions against the leftist regimes of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, and led the OAS in accusations of fraud in Bolivia’s 2019 elections.

“I’m the first assistant secretary-general ever to be elected secretary-general,” Ramdin told us. “I will do my best, but my fear is that the expectations are so high that I don’t want to disappoint any member. It’ll require 48 hours in a day to do the job. But I’m a hard worker.”

Almagro praised his successor, telling reporters recently that “few people come to this job so well prepared and aware of the challenges and responsibilities.”

Ramdin noted that despite its population of only 635,000, “Suriname is very diverse, and diversity is an important characteristic of the Western Hemisphere. We have learned in a small community to translate diversity into high levels of tolerance, peace and acceptance of differences among groups.”

Climate action, energy boom pull region in opposite directions

Yet diversity is not exactly a favorite term when it comes to the Trump administration—some of whose cheerleaders had expressed concern over Ramdin’s ties with China as foreign minister.

“Ramdin is an avowed leftist,” political consultant Dick Morris warned in recent Newsmax editorial, before Lezcano’s withdrawal from consideration. “Ramdin openly bragged that Suriname was the first Caribbean nation to sign up for China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and that Beijing could save Latin America. The OAS is based in Washington DC. Do we really want a Beijing-controlled OAS filled with its spies sitting in the middle of our capital?”

On the other hand, Trump’s special envoy to Latin America, Mauricio Claver-Carone, dismissed such accusations, describing Suriname as “a pro-American country that’s on the right path economically, that’s growing, that’s bringing in foreign investments that’s non-Chinese,” and noting the “historic” opportunity for a CARICOM national to lead the OAS.

Clearly, Ramdin will have to put his diplomatic skills to great use.

“I’m very grateful for the US contribution to the OAS,” he said. “One would hope the leadership would see the benefits of multilateralism. We need to work together. We can’t solve problems on our own, and strong policies based on national interests alone are not going to be helpful.”

He added: “I agree that member states want to see value for the financial contribution they make. That’s a legitimate request. The thing is, yes there are inefficiencies, but development assistance, security and democracy. These things are critically important and the money is well-spent.”

Ramdin said he has already established a strong rapport with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who “was very upbeat about the role the US can play” in the region.

“We will talk to the US administration at all levels,” he said. “It’s their decision what policy they want to enact, and I have to respect that they were elected democratically. But we must explain to them how relevant it is to continue supporting stability and unity.”

The problem, Ramdin added, is that “the OAS is doing a lot of good things, but we haven’t told the story well.”

In his acceptance speech, Ramdin urged action in the face of climate change, which he said is disproportionately affecting debt-laden Caribbean nations exposed to hurricanes and other natural disasters. Yet curbing climate change runs in direct contrast to an energy bonanza that is fueling rising expectations in Suriname as well as neighboring Guyana.

Both countries are major oil exporters, with Guyana now ranking fifth in the region after Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia, according to Forbes magazine. In 2024, Guyana exported an average 582,000 barrels a day, up 62% from 2023—with most of its light, sweet crude destined for European refineries.

More than 11 billion oil-equivalent barrels have been discovered to date in Guyana’s offshore Stabroek block, raising the stakes for potential hostilities with Venezuela, which claims 80% of Guyana’s territory as its own. In early March, Guyana asked the International Court of Justice to stop Venezuela from holding elections in the disputed Essequibo region—the latest development in a long-running border dispute that has only escalated under the Maduro regime.

“We do not want anything to escalate into a conflict,” said Ramdin, whose country has its own border dispute with English-speaking Guyana. “This is our call to maintain peace and find a way to solve this problem through dialogue, on the basis of political will.”

In 2028, Suriname’s GDP will jump by an astounding 55% when offshore block 58 comes online, according to IMF predictions. That compares to Guyana, where GDP growth has averaged 42.3% over the last three years, rising from annual per-capita income of $6,477 in 2019 to $20,360 in 2023.

Return of Donald Trump makes Ramdin’s job ‘even more impossible’

At the other extreme is Haiti, the hemisphere’s poorest country, with 2023 per-capita GDP of only $1,693, according to the World Bank. Ramdin is an expert on the subject, having coordinated OAS efforts there as chairman of the Group of Friends of Haiti.

“Regarding Haiti, you can’t expect too much at this point,” he said with a sigh. “It’s so grave that the first thing we need is to get back to some degree of normalcy, because the situation is deteriorating rapidly. This will require special support from countries that can provide police and law enforcement. Just putting troops on the ground is not sufficient. You don’t want gangs to take over the country, because that’s their intent.”

In 2024 alone, gang violence killed 5,601 people and displaced more than a million, according to the United Nations Human Rights Office. On April 26, the UN’s special representative to Haiti, Maria Isabel Salvador, warned that the French-speaking nation of 11 million was nearing the “point of no return” and total chaos.

Ramdin said humanitarian assistance has to come first, followed by help to medical institutions, schools and the judicial system. A police mission led by Kenya has around 1,000 police officers from six countries—far short of the intended 2,500—and has failed to stem the bloodshed by armed criminal gangs.

“We have to begin with a political consensus-building approach before even talking about elections,” Ramdin concluded. “I’m going to spend a lot of time on Haiti.”

Michael Reid, an associate fellow at Chatham House, called Ramdin a professional diplomat who knows the OAS inside and out.

“The problem Ramdin faces is that leading the OAS is an impossible job that has just gotten harder because of the return of Donald Trump to the White House,” he said, adding that the organization’s most useful work is in monitoring elections and protecting human rights. “Ramdin champions traditional multilateralism, but Trump is a unilateralist who has little interest in human rights or, one might say, clean elections.”

Adam Blackwell, a former Canadian ambassador to the Dominican Republic, worked closely with Ramdin for nearly nine years, said his friend will make an excellent secretary-general.

“He will hit the ground running,” Blackwell told the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think tank. “He will inherit the legacy issues of democracy—especially Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua—security, migration, human rights and climate. If these issues and others aren’t enough, his biggest and most immediate challenge will be financial. Member states have always been reluctant to trim the mandates and pay up for what is important. It is great to have the Inter-American Democratic Charter, but without the resources to do serious and professional electoral monitoring and observation or good office missions, it is just a document. The situation is the same for all the core activities of the OAS.”

John Maisto, former US envoy to the OAS, Venezuela and Nicaragua, was even more blunt.

“The new secretary-general’s first and overriding responsibility will be to ensure that the OAS survives. That will require funding from its richest members, foremost the United States,” Maisto said, noting that “defending democracy, promoting and protecting human rights, and advancing security and economic prosperity” are clearly Rubio’s priorities.

“He elaborated that the OAS should strengthen alliances with democratic partners to confront illegal migration, transnational crime and corrupt authoritarian regimes in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua,” Maisto continued. “Rubio also acknowledged critical concern over the OAS’ financial stability and members’ shared responsibility for it, and he underlined its commitment to free and fair elections and fundamental freedoms as contained in the 1948 OAS Charter and the 2001 Inter-American Democratic Charter.

“If the new secretary-general pursues these objectives credibly, the OAS will have the support of the Trump administration as well as bipartisan support in Congress,” Maisto concluded. “Anything less—and particularly empty rhetoric—will endanger its financial integrity and its ability to function.”