Former Nicaragua official backed for UN Assembly post

UNITED NATIONS • A former Nicaraguan official who has sharply criticized US Republican presidents has been backed by regional countries to be the next president of the UN General Assembly, a spokesman said yesterday.

The endorsement by Latin American and Caribbean countries makes it likely that Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann will be elected as it is the region’s turn for the post, which lasts for a year and changes hands every September.

The current president, Srgjan Kerim of Macedonia, was informed of the endorsement in a letter last week from the UN ambassador of Venezuela, which currently chairs the grouping, UN assembly spokesman Janos Tisovszky told reporters.

The president of the 192-nation General Assembly has little power but chairs an annual gathering of world leaders in September that includes an address by the US president. He or she also oversees reform issues such as a long-running drive to expand membership of the powerful UN Security Council.

D’Escoto, 75, was foreign minister in the leftist Sandinista administration that ruled Nicaragua from 1979-90, during which time it fought against an insurgency by US-backed Contra rebels. The son of a diplomat, D’Escoto was born in Los Angeles and ordained as a Roman Catholic priest.
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