MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US supports Central American candidate for OAS

United States reiterated that it prefers a former president from Central America as the next of Secretary General of the Organization of American States, a post for which Chile and Mexico have also presented candidates.

"United States continues to support a consensus candidate from Central America, preferably a former president, for OAS Secretary General", said Adam Ereli Deputy Spokesperson for the State Department.

Mr. Ereli was referring to former El Salvador president Francisco Flores. US authorities made a similar announcement last December 7 when the Mexican government officially announced the candidacy of its Foreign Affairs minister Luis Ernesto Derbez.

However this is the first official US reaction following the announcement by Chile that it was supporting for the post Interior Minister Miguel Angel Insulza.

But Mr. Ereli also announced that Washington "would carefully assess all candidates based on their merits", and promised that the US would look "for the necessary consensus with the other 33 OAS members to ensure the most qualified candidate is nominated".

Meanwhile all three candidates, Mr. Flores, Mr. Derbez and Mr. Insulza took advantage this week of the Caribbean Community Foreign Affairs Ministers meeting held in Guyana to campaign for their candidacies.