Colombia to Host OAS General Assembly in 2019

Colombia will host the general assembly of the Organization of American States next year for the first time in more than a decade, the hemisphere-wide body announced today.

Photo: OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro visits the Colombian/Venezuelan border in September. (Credit: OAS)

The 2019 edition, which will be the 49th general assembly of the OAS, will be held in June.

“We are sure the General Assembly under its responsibility will be a success,” said Rita Hernández, chair of the OAS permanent council and permanent representative of Costa Rica.

Colombia, which was the site of the organization’s birth when its charter was formalized in Bogotá in 1948, last hosted the general assembly in Medellín in 2008.

“This year marked 70 years since the founding of the OAS in Bogotá,” said Alejandro Ordoñez, permanent representative of Colombia. “For our government it will be an honor to hold the general assembly in our country.

Alejandro Ordoñez became Colombia’s representative to the OAS in September. (Photo credit: OAS)

Ordoñez stepped into this high-level diplomatic role just last week.

When officially beginning his role as representative, he highlighted Colombia’s ongoing concern about the migration and social crisis in Venezuela, praising Luis Almagro, OAS secretary general, for keeping the issue high on the organization’s agenda.

“We value the direction of Secretary General Almagro in bringing awareness to the region and that there is a political decision to use all the instruments that international law allows in order to achieve the restoration of democracy in Venezuela,” said Ordoñez.

Almagro, who hails from Uruguay, visited Colombia earlier this month, meeting with new President Iván Duque and traveling to the Venezuelan border to see the gravity of the crisis.