MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Insulza, consensus candidate for OAS

Chile's candidate emerged Friday as the favourite for the Organization of American States Secretary General post after Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez in a surprise move withdrew his bid.

Mexico's decision opens the door to "hemispheric consensus," Colombian Foreign Minister Carolina Barco said at a press conference. The decision followed a long meeting of visiting United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice with both hopefuls, Mr. Derbez and Mr. Insulza.

"We want to publicly recognize in the name of all the countries the generosity and high purpose of Mexican President Vicente Fox" added Ms. Barco. "We are convinced that with this decision in the interest of unity, Mr. Insulza will be elected secretary-general next Monday" announced Ms. Barco standing next to her Mexican, Canadian and U.S. counterparts as well as Mr. Insulza himself.

The announcement was the consequence of intense lobbying during the III Democracies Community Conference taking place in Santiago de Chile and which has convened dozens of Foreign Secretaries, including Ms. Rice.

After thanking Mr. Derbez for his "generous gesture" and embracing him warmly, Mr. Insulza called for a more active role for the OAS' Permanent Council and vowed to work to strengthen democracy in the hemisphere.

In an emotional speech, the Chilean minister, age 61, also thanked the 17 nations that backed his nomination during the first round of voting earlier this month Mr. Derbez and Mr. Insulza tied in consecutive ballots. The next ballot is scheduled for Monday May 2 in Washington.

Mr. Insulza highlighted the consensus building contribution of all OAS country members and "the act of generosity of Mr. Derbez that I appreciate deeply and wholeheartedly".

The consensus candidate also had words of praise for Washington saying that "we cannot disregard, or fail to recognize the U.S. Secretary of State's enormous leadership and the active way in which she became involved in the discussions with the other Foreign ministers". "The opinion of the United States, we all know, is very important in this hemisphere" he added.

Mr. Insulza also made special mention of the OAS's Democratic Charter, noting the importance of enforcing it "in its integrity" by means of a more active Permanent Council.

"A fundamental objective is that that democratically elected authorities also rule in a democratic manner" he underscored recalling that "elected governments that do not rule democratically must answer to the OAS".

In Washington on Monday, Mr. Insulza is set to be proclaimed OAS secretary-general - for a five-year term - by consensus, unless a country disagrees, in which case a vote would be taken even if there is no other candidate.

In the previous vote that ended in a tie the hemisphere seemed to be splitting along geographic lines: most of South America and the Caribbean supporting Mr. Insulza and Central and North America behind Mr. Derbez.

Traditionally the US backed candidate wins the leadership of the OAS.