Luis Almagro

Luis Leonardo Almagro Lemes (born June 1, 1963) is a Uruguayan lawyer, diplomat, and politician who currently serves as the 10th Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) since 2015.

Luis Almagro was born June 1, 1963, in Cerro Chato, Paysandú Department.

Almagro studied at the University of the Republic, where he earned his law degree.

Almagro's commitment to human rights extended to domestic affairs as demonstrated by the active role in the repeal of the 1986 Expiry Law, which granted amnesty for crimes and human rights abuses committed during the civic-military dictatorship between 1973 and 1985, and actively supported prosecutions for these crimes.

During his 23-year career with the Uruguayan Foreign Ministry, he represented Uruguay in the Islamic Republic of Iran (1991–1996), in Germany (1998–2003), as well as serving as Ambassador to China (2007–2010).

He is fluent in Spanish, English, and French.

Almagro served as Uruguay's Ambassador to the People's Republic of China from 2005 to 2010.

He had previously held different positions at the Ministry of Foreign Relations.

After the 2009 general election, then-president-elect José Mujica appointed him foreign minister, taking office in March 2010, succeeding Pedro Vaz.

A former member of the Broad Front, Almagro served as Minister of Foreign Relations of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015 under president José Mujica.

During his tenure in the Mujica administration, the country received several detainees from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp and dozens of Syrian families who were civilian victims, as well as maintained a military presence in Haiti to ensure the reconstruction process after the 2010 earthquake.

During Almagro's time as Foreign Minister (2010–2015), Uruguay drew global recognition for a small South American country as they were the largest per capita contributor to UN peacekeeping forces as well as secured Uruguay's successful election seat to the UN Security Council.

Almagro also supported efforts on the restoration of relations between Cuba and the US.

A lawyer, Almagro was a member of the executive committee that drafted the groundbreaking legislation regulating the possession, growth, and distribution of marijuana in Uruguay in 2013.

Uruguay is the first country in the world to introduce legislation of its kind.

He also represented Uruguay at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), in the suit brought by Philip Morris International against Uruguay for its anti-tobacco policies.

After six years, ICSID ruled in favor of Uruguay.

Also responsible for trade, Almagro also played a key role in expanding and diversifying Uruguay market access, raising exports each year of his term.

A key focus was opening up non-traditional markets to Uruguayan exporters, including as securing access to key US markets for Uruguay's citrus fruit.

A strong advocate for refugees, Almagro played an integral role in negotiating the transfer of a group of ex-detenidos (former detainees) from Guantanamo Bay detention camp to Uruguay.

Almagro also led the process to welcome dozens of Syrian refugees to Uruguay, along with former President Mujica.

After leaving government service, Almagro was elected Senator of the Republic in 2014 for the 48th Legislature and assumed his seat in March 2015, however, he resigned a few months later to take office as Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS).

For this they were listed among Foreign Policy magazine's top Global Thinkers for 2014.

Almagro is one of only 10 decision-makers in the region to be awarded this international distinction.

Almagro was elected Secretary General of the Organization of American States on March 18, 2015, earning the support of 33 of the 34 Members States, including one abstention.

He officially took office on May 26, 2015.

Almagro's first year in office was marked by his outspoken stance on democracy and human rights.

His leadership has widely been seen as reinvigorating an Organization.

His election campaign centered on the idea of "More Rights for More People".

In addition to four programmatic pillars of democracy, human rights, security and development, he announced a set of new strategic initiatives to achieve this goal including

Under the renewed vision, Almagro continues to champion key OAS initiatives including the Inter-American Human Rights System, the Inter-American Judicial Facilitators Program, the MACCIH, and the Mission to Support the Peace Process in Colombia (MAPP), along with electoral cooperation and observation missions as priorities for the organization.

The inaugural meeting on September 7–8, 2016, established a Hemispheric Network of Dialogue for the Common Home which creates platform for dialogue between countries of OAS Member States and religious leaders to support reconciliation and the search for solutions to promote peace and stability, in line with Article 2 of the OAS Charter.

Almagro has given special lectures and classes at prestigious academic centers including the University of Oxford, New York University, Georgetown University, Harvard University, Syracuse University, UNAM of Mexico, University of Pennsylvania, Boston College, Cambridge University, and University of the Republic of Uruguay, among others.

During the 2022 Summit of the Americas, Almagro called for a global treaty to end violence against women and girls.

In 2018, Almagro was listed 4th in the ranking of top 100 leaders from multilateral organizations.

Almagro and the OAS were also involved in the political crisis in Bolivia following the aftermath of the 2019 Bolivian general election.

On March 20, 2020, the OAS General Assembly re-elected him in office for a second term until 2025.

On 3 March 2020, Santiago Abascal of the far-right Spanish political party Vox met with Almagro, with the two discussing the creation of the anti-leftist organization, the Madrid Forum.

Members of the Madrid Forum again met with Almagro in March 2023, presenting the ongoing Peruvian protests as an international "destabilization campaign" against President Dina Boluarte.

The initiative "Protecting our Home Common Home: Ensuring more rights for more people in the Americas" is organized through the cooperation of the OAS, the Vatican and the Inter-religious Institute for Dialogue.