About the OAS

• Who We Are
• What We Do
• Our Structure
• Our Locations
• Contact Us
• Offices in the Member States
• Our History
• Logo
• Authorities
  • Permanent Representatives
  • General Secretariat
  • Officials
  • Councils/Committees
  • Human Rights
  • Specialized Organizations
  • Agencies and Entities

Officials

Kevin Casas-Zamora

Secretary for Political Affairs

Dr. Casas-Zamora is currently the Secretary for Political Affairs at the Organization of American States. Previously, he served as Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution, in Washington DC. He has also served as Minister of National Planning and Economic Policy and Second Vice-President of Costa Rica. Dr. Casas-Zamora has also been Program Officer of the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress, and General Coordinator of the National Human Development Report, Costa Rica, United Nations Program for Development. He received his Law Degree from the University of Costa Rica and MA and Ph.D. in Political Science from the Universities of Essex and Oxford, respectively. He is the author of numerous studies on campaign finance, elections, democratic governance and human security in Latin America. His doctoral thesis, entitled "Paying for Democracy in Latin America: Political Finance and State Subsidies for Parties in Costa Rica and Uruguay", won the Jean Blondel 2004 Prize of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) for the best doctoral thesis Political Science in Europe and was published in 2005 by the ECPR. In 2007, Dr. Casas-Zamora was selected by the World Economic Forum as a member of Young Global Leaders network.