US supports calls for external ethics probe into OAS chief

MIAMI (AP) — The head of the Organization of American States is facing growing calls, including from the Biden administration, for an external probe into possible misconduct tied to his intimate relationship with a subordinate.

The Washington-based group’s own inspector general in a memo this week said it is in the organization’s “best interest” to hire an outside firm to investigate allegations that Secretary General Luis Almagro may have violated the ethics code.

The inspector general's recommendation was based on a report by The Associated Press finding that Almagro carried on a relationship with a Mexican-born staffer described online, including on the organization's own website, as “head adviser” to the secretary general.

The inspector general said the AP report followed a loosely detailed, anonymous whistleblower complaint forwarded to his office by Almagro himself on June 3.

The peace and democracy-building organization's ethics code prohibits managers from supervising or participating in decisions that benefit individuals with whom they are romantically involved.

The proposal to hire an outside firm to look into Almagro's behavior is scheduled to be discussed Wednesday at the next meeting of the 34-member organization's permanent council.

The U.S. — which has contributed about half of the organization's $100 million in funding this year — has already expressed support for an external probe ahead of the meeting.

“We take these allegations seriously,” a State Department spokesperson told the AP, adding that any ethics violation “should be investigated in a fair and impartial manner by an appropriate external investigative entity.”

But at least four members — Almagro's native Uruguay, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize and St. Lucia — have publicly backed draft...