In March 2025, the Organization of American States (OAS) will select a new secretary general to serve a five-year term and replace Luis Almagro, who has served two consecutive terms. The Georgetown Americas Institute was pleased to welcome Rubén Ramírez Lezcano, minister of foreign affairs of Paraguay, for a conversation about his background, views on the hemisphere, and his vision for the OAS as running candidate for the position of secretary general.
Ramirez Lezcano began his diplomatic career in 1989 and has occupied key roles at the Embassies of Paraguay in Argentina, Ecuador, France, and at the Consulate General in Los Angeles. In 2006 he was first appointed minister of foreign affairs. He has also held the position of director-representative of CAF-Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean. GAI was pleased to welcome Ramirez Lezcano for a conversation moderated by GAI Founding Director Alejandro Werner.
This event was livestreamed on the GAI YouTube channel.
Featuring
Ambassador Ruben Ramirez Lezcano is minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of Paraguay and candidate to secretary general of the Organization of American States. He began his diplomatic career on August 8, 1989, and after an extensive career passing through various ministerial levels, he was promoted to the rank of ambassador in the diplomatic and consular corps of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2004. He has occupied key roles in Paraguay's embassies in Argentina, Ecuador, and France; permanent missions in Uruguay, Switzerland, and France; and consulates in the United States. In 2006 he was appointed minister of foreign affairs by President Nicanor Duarte Frutos and held the position until 2008. From there he moved to the private sphere where he held executive positions, as well as the position of director representative of CAF - Development Bank of Latin America. After some years working in the private banking and financial sector of Paraguay, on August 15, 2023, Ambassador Ramirez Lezcano was reappointed by President Santiago Pena as minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of Paraguay, a position he holds to this day.
Alejandro Werner is the founding director of the Georgetown Americas Institute and a non-resident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute. He recently completed almost nine years as director of the Western Hemisphere Department at the International Monetary Fund. Prior to that appointment, he was undersecretary of finance and public credit in Mexico’s Finance Ministry and held several positions in that ministry and the Central Bank. He also taught at leading universities in Mexico, Spain, and the United States. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A. in economics from ITAM.