MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

OAS Secretary General still an open race.

United States Under Secretary for Hemispheric Affairs Roger Noriega said that the coming election of the next Organization of American States, OAS, Secretary General should be decided before June when the region's Foreign Affairs ministers will be holding a regular meeting in Fort Lauderdale.

Mr. Noriega added he was aware of the need of "more time" for governments to come to a decision, but "OAS institutional reasons demand a new leadership in the shortest time possible".

The three candidates so far are Chilean Interior Minister Jose Miguel Insulza, Mexico's Foreign Affairs minister Luis Ernesto Derbez and former El Salvador president Francisco Flores. Mr. Noriega said United States fully supports Mr. Francisco Flores.

So far the votes are distributed as follows:

Mr. Derbez: Mexico, Belize, Canada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Mr. Insulza: Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Ecuador, Uruguay.

Mr. Flores: El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, United States and Colombia.

Mr. Noriega's remark follow the recent Caribbean Community summit held last week in Guyana with the participation of Chilean president Raul Lagos and Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Both South American presidents lobbied strongly in favour of Mr. Insulza trying to convince the decisive 13 votes of the Caribbean block to support the Chilean candidate.

Mr. Insulza needs Caribbean votes if he is to become OAS next Secretary General since Bolivia and Peru, which have pending border disputes with Chile have so far abstained from committing their votes.

Furthermore Peruvian Foreign Affairs Minister Manuel Rodriguez Cuadros last week anticipated that if no candidate has the sufficient votes Lima was prepared to offer a consensus candidacy.

However Chilean Foreign Secretary Ignacio Walker recalled that given the "current OAS crisis, its recent declination and public opinion lack of credibility, can only be restores with a strong leadership. We hope the Peruvians join us in supporting Mr. Insulza".