Tiny Antigua is the host nation for this week’s general assembly of the umbrella Organization of American States (OAS), but apart from the conference taking place in the region, it will also be presided over by the first person of Caribbean origin to serve as general secretary.

Former Surinamese Foreign Minister Albert Ramdin is the head honcho at the three-day summit, which began on June 25. Ramdin, a former two-term OAS assistant secretary general and an assistant secretary general at CARICOM, was elected to the top position in March, making him the first official from the wider Caribbean to lead the 30-plus-nation hemispheric body. He resigned in late May from his most recent post as the foreign minister of his native Suriname.

Previous officials from the region had only been able to serve in the number two position of assistant secretary. However, Ramdin, 67, broke that proverbial glass ceiling when it became clear that he had had the overwhelming majority of support among CARICOM nations and the key players in South America like Brazil. Sir Ronald Sanders, Antigua’s Ambassador to the US and the OAS, says Ramdin’s unanimous elevation to the top position ”reflects confidence in CARICOM’s contributions within the OAS. For many years, CARICOM representatives have worked diligently in OAS councils to earn this respect.”

The assembly is being held at a time of simmering tensions in the hemisphere, including an apparent never-ending border row between Guyana and Venezuela, Guatemala and Belize, and others in South America, and even a trade war between Canada and the US, which threatens the special relationship the two neighbors have had for centuries. Sanders argues that the meeting will have more than a plate full of issues to deliberate.

“Trade and migration tensions among the organization’s members, particularly Canada, Mexico, and the United States, remain public and ongoing. Ideological and other differences between Latin American states have surfaced in the OAS during elections for officeholders, such as the Assistant Secretary-General (now Colombia’s Laura Gil) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights commissioners to be chosen at this assembly.”

He also points to problems linked to inadequate funding of organizational activities, noting that this has presented serious challenges to the body.

Meanwhile, discussions will also touch on the continued crisis in Haiti and the role of the OAS in assisting in amelioration, threats to democratic traditions in some jurisdictions, and this month’s attempted assassination of Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe, arguing that this “underscores risks to electoral integrity and citizen confidence. However, the most acute emergency grips Haiti, where armed groups now control the majority of Port-au-Prince, blocking basic state functions, precipitating a humanitarian catastrophe, and preventing the restoration of democratic institutions and the election of a representative government. At the General Assembly, it is incumbent upon the OAS and its member states, within the framework of the OAS Charter and their respective means, to continue demonstrating solidarity with the people of Haiti,” Sanders stated.