Pope Francis has said that efforts to build bridges, channels of communication, and relationships and to seek agreements are never in vain. He has pointed out that all wars, all struggles, and all unresolved problems that we face are due to a lack of dialogue.

Monsignor Romero—and I would have liked to be in El Salvador a couple of days ago—said that dialogue should not be characterized by defending the position one brings to the table. Rather it should be characterized by poverty: one goes into it as a poor person to seek truth and a solution. If the two sides simply defend their own positions, then they will leave in the same situation as when they entered.

You have had the opportunity on several occasions to hear about the work plan we are proposing for the next five years. You have been able to read it and we have been able to discuss it. You heard about it on the day it was presented and you heard about it again when our fundamental lines of action were put forward on the day I was elected.

We have five years ahead of us to face up to reality and to make it better, to tackle this Organization and give it a modern management style. You have listened to the principles underlying our concrete proposals—the proposals we have presented for development, for dialogue, for human rights, and for the consolidation of democracy.

My remarks today reaffirm and promote each of these variables. The OAS is important to you. For the country representatives, for the ambassadors present today, and for those who engage in ongoing diplomatic efforts, it is important to promote this Organization, to strengthen it, and to make it an increasingly vital instrument for development, an essential instrument for ensuring the fullest possible observance of human rights in the Hemisphere, and an instrument for safeguarding and promoting democracy in the region.

We require more, much more, from this Organization, and that will depend on the courage we may have to create circumstances enabling all countries to establish increasingly better conditions for development, enhance technology, shore up educational policies, connect with the region and the world, and jointly address natural disasters.

The OAS must also be a voice that does not remain silent or compromise in the face of human rights violations; moreover, it must represent the power that all individuals in the Hemisphere can have to express themselves so as to enjoy each of their rights fully—rights that have already been described or that are inherent in human dignity.

It is therefore incumbent on us in the Hemisphere to achieve greater equality for people. This region, the most unequal of all regions, grapples with fundamental inequality as far as rights are concerned, since there is no greater difficulty or inequality than the absence of full enjoyment of each individual right. In the final analysis, human rights constitute the very core of conditions of equality.

The worst inequality is that suffered in the exercise of rights; in ensuring every social and economic right, we ensure civil and political rights. An equality policy can only be a policy that promotes the exercise of rights.

The OAS is also the fundamental instrument for democracy. Democracy entails the exercise of rights; basically it entails a culture of dialogue. Democracy imposes tolerance, respect, the capacity to work together, dialogue, recognition of the rights of each individual, and a community spirit. The people do not elect officials, they elect leaders—leaders with a commitment to ideas but especially leaders with the political skill to do things well for the common good. This then is the work that is cut out for us.

The OAS cannot be used in a neutral sense. It must reflect the commitment to the greatest possible respect for each of these fundamental tools and instruments at its disposal.

Tools and instruments that concern the development of our people, tools and instruments that create and must endeavor to create opportunities for the people.

That is why my administration will make the theme “More rights for more and more people” its raison d'être, because the Hemisphere has had its fill of exclusion; it has grown weary of racism, of persecution, of prejudice, and of sterile conflicts. The Hemisphere must be characterized by peace and must live in democracy.

I insist that elections must be inclusive and transparent in every country holding an electoral process and that they must be held within constitutionally established time frames.

This being the case, in the area of democratic governance, the OAS must lend a hand to countries that are going through moments of tension and conflict that at times go beyond the levels of civility to which regional democracy should aspire. There is an Islamic saying to the effect that “nothing is permanent in this world, not even our troubles.”

Democratic governance is about more than just elections. One of the key initiatives that my administration will seek to implement will be a school of governance for public servants and civil society in the Hemisphere, as a tool for strengthening the practices of institutional transparency, consensus building to undertake reform, and public accountability.

Probity, ethics, and republican decorum are not mere ideological values; they are essential democratic values whose implementation brings hope to new generations, given that the collusion of politics and money in the public arena simply drives them away from political activity and from participation in the decision-making that shapes their future.

Consequently, we will also focus our efforts on working jointly with the countries on transparency and the fight against corruption, providing OAS support in the areas of training and access to best practices in transparency and accountability.

These values are part of an agenda that was also expressed regionally and internationally by former-president José Mujica, a clear proponent thereof.

The Summit of the Americas, held last month in Panama, was a turning point in our Hemisphere. The inclusion of Cuba together with renewed bilateral relations with the United States opens up an array of beneficial détente possibilities for the region as a whole. We will work to enable Cuba to become fully integrated into the OAS, obviously taking into account the need to make allowance for time frames and processes that are not under our control.

Emerging from the Summit’s interaction and dialogue were shared objectives and concerns, which we consider to be consistent with several of the initiatives that we have put forward in recent months and that will be at the center of our efforts.

• Citizen security, which is among the top two or three concerns in all the countries of the Hemisphere. We will work alongside multilateral organizations on a hemispheric initiative, adopting a holistic approach to the problem.

• School of Governance, which I already mentioned.

• Prevention of social conflicts. We will facilitate dialogue between investors, from both outside and within the region, states, and communities in key productive sectors that generate wealth and conflicts about how that wealth is distributed.

• Natural disaster prevention and management in the Caribbean and in Central America.

• Interconnectivity in the Caribbean.

• The Pan American Education System, an initiative that will enable us to progress from achievements in access to education to achievements in enhancing the impact of education at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels.

Two months ago, in this very chamber, when by the will of the member states I was elected Secretary General, I said: I am not interested in administering the crisis in the OAS. I am bent on facilitating the emergence of a revitalized OAS.

Following a period of transition, in which we started to come to terms with the dimension of the challenges to be addressed, I would like to affirm it once again with clarity.

We noticed early on that there are likely areas in which we can achieve greater alignment and enhanced efficiencies.

• Alignment between the strategic vision and the current organizational structure of the OAS.

• Better alignment of the demand for services that the countries request of the OAS with what the Organization can offer.

• It is crucial to improve interaction and cohesion among the three vital parts of the OAS: its staff; its owners or, in other words, the governments and the organs that represent it; and the General Secretariat, so that the measures taken by the Organization enjoy everyone’s support.

• The transition team has held meetings with all stakeholders and, at the same time, a two-way dialogue was initiated with OAS staff members, sponsored by the transition team and the Staff Association. The results will undoubtedly be helpful in directing our efforts and I am very grateful for everyone’s participation. In the near future, we will organize a Town Hall Meeting with all the staff.

It is important to ask questions in order to learn, because, as a Spanish proverb says, anyone who goes to a bodega and doesn’t drink was a donkey and comes back a donkey.

• As regards organizational, financial, and administrative management, we will reorient processes toward results-based management to ensure alignment with the strategic vision.

• There also exist clear opportunities for improving interaction between the different parts of the inter-American system and other regional integration organizations that have emerged in the region in the past decade.

• There is great potential if we are able to coordinate the different actors from the OAS and from the inter-American system and its partners.

• There is also much to be done in the context of civil society, social networks, and communication to bring the OAS closer to the people of the Americas. We want an OAS that is close to the people.

We have given an overview of the challenges faced by the Hemisphere and also of how we hope to adapt the Organization from within to enable it to respond effectively.


We will have the opportunity to address all these matters in greater depth at the General Assembly session to be held next month, in June.

IN CLOSING, AND AT THIS TIME OF CHANGE IN THE OAS, I WOULD LIKE TO APPEAL TO THE GOVERNMENTS, THEIR REPRESENTATIVES IN THE PERMANENT COUNCIL, THE OAS STAFF, ALL PARTS OF THE INTER-AMERICAN SYSTEM, AND THE PARTNERS OF THE OAS, TO WORK TOGETHER WITH THE GENERAL SECRETARIAT FROM TODAY ONWARD TO BRING THE ORGANIZATION’S ACTIVITIES INTO LINE WITH THE VISION OF AN OAS THAT IS EVER CLOSER TO THE PEOPLE, MORE EFFICIENT, LESS BUREAUCRATIC, AND THAT HELPS SOLVE THE PROBLEMS OF OUR HEMISPHERE AND ITS CITIZENS.

As Shimon Peres said, “For me, dreaming is simply being pragmatic.”

Thank you