MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Second chance for Chilean OAS candidate.

Chilean president Ricardo Lagos admitted several regional leaders had anticipated they would support a Chilean candidate for the Organization of American States secretary general following the controversial resignation of recently named Miguel Angel Rodríguez.

Mr. Lagos who is currently in a state visit to Turkey and Thursday will be in Hungary revealed he had been contacted by several Latinamerican presidents who are concerned with the OAS crisis. Mr. Rodríguez, a former Costa Rican president who allegedly took bribes from a French company and the government of Taiwan must now face charges in his country but after resigning to OAS, his whereabouts remains unknown.

"Presidents from other countries told me they've been following closely the OAS situation and what about supporting a Chilean candidate, which shows we have friendly relations because they are thinking in a Chilean candidate", said president Lagos in Ankara.

But Mr. Lagos spokesperson added there was no Chilean candidate yet, since the new OAS election is scheduled for June 2005, and "there's plenty of time".

Actually Chile had originally proposed Interior Minister Jose Miguel Inzulza but his candidacy, following some diplomatic sounding, didn't receive sufficient support.

Earlier this year Chile's strong position in the United Nations Security Council not supporting the United States led invasion of Iraq, angered the Bush administration which finished demolishing all Chilean aspirations to the OAS job which eventually went to a staunch supporter of the war Costa Rica.

Following Mr. Rodriguez resignation, one of the first countries to openly propose a Chilean candidate was Venezuela, which in the first round supported the Costa Rican former president.

"There are moments, opportunities, nothing is permanent. Whoever is elected must have full consensus, we can't go divided", said Venezuelan Foreign Affairs minister Jesus Perez