MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile and Mexico contest OAS Secretary General seat

Chile with strong South American and Caribbean support is confident it will win the bitterly contested Organization of American States, OAS, secretary general post which is being disputed with Mexico, backed by United States and Canada.

"We're not giving numbers but we have sufficient votes committed to win", said Chilean Foreign Secretary Ignacio Walker referring to Chilean Interior Ministry Jose Miguel Insulza the country's candidate for the post.

The voting takes place Monday in Washington during a special OAS general assembly and the winning candidate must obtain a majority, equivalent to half plus one of the 34 member countries.

The situation changed drastically last Friday when the original US candidate, former El Salvador president Francisco Flores abandoned the race unable to convince the Caribbean block to support him.

This turned the race into a two candidates' dispute between Mr. Insulza and Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez who is now supported by United States.

Most of the fourteen Caribbean states are expected to cast their votes for Mr. Insulza given Venezuela's intense lobbying and promise of oil and aid to the financially strapped area.

Mr. Insulza also has the backing from Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. Apparently Paraguay and Panama are undecided and it's not clear what will happen with Bolivia and Peru, countries who would not like to see the OAS post go to their neighbour.

However the support of US is critical for a victory, since historically no candidate supported by Washington has lost the election for the OAS post.

US Secretary of State spokesperson Richard Boucher last Friday said that the George Bush administration has "the highest respect for both competing candidates and believes they will bring exceptional qualities for the exercise of the office", but for the moment is holding talks with "our OAS partners" to ensure the best candidate possible and make the OAS an "effective multilateral institution".