Can Latin America and the Caribbean put forward a single candidate for UN Secretary-General?

By Javier Surasky

To pose this question when the UN is experiencing an unprecedented financial crisis and seeking strategies to reduce itself to a bare minimum, ineffectively and clumsily disguising this reduction as reform proposals, thinking about the election of the organization's next Secretary-General seems too distant for some.

I write this text because I disagree with them. It is more important than ever to have a Secretary-General with a political profile of independence, a precise determination to defend multilateralism even in the face of major powers, promote greater management transparency, and speak plainly.

Beyond the opportunistic debates about the convenience of continuing to apply the regional rotation system in the Secretary-General's election, and the UN's delayed betrayal of its promise to elect a woman to the position when Guterres was selected—despite excellent female candidates being available—the person who ultimately holds the position should be from Latin America and the Caribbean, and it is time for that person to be a woman.

There are already names in circulation, some stronger than others. Still, in any case, only a unified regional position behind a female candidate can shape the selection of a Secretary-General from Latin America and the Caribbean. A lack of consensus within the region opens up a scenario where the region has much to lose.

Two variables currently intersect with the feasibility of a unified position, and both show zigzagging paths.

On the one hand, there is a relationship between Latin America and the Caribbean regarding the distribution of positions at the United Nations. After many years in which Latin America "appropriated" designations corresponding to the region at the United Nations, at the beginning of this century, the UN Group of Latin American and Caribbean States (GRULAC) agreed to rotate positions between both subregions. Let's look at an example:

Year	President of UNGA	Subregion	President of ECOSOC	Subregion
1983/1984	Jorge E. Illueca (Panama)	LA	Sergio Correa da Costa (Brazil)	LA
1988/1989	Dante M. Caputo (Argentina)	LA	Andrés Aguilar (Venezuela)	LA
1993/1994	Samuel R. Insanally (Guyana)	Caribbean(*)	Juan Somavia (Chile)	LA
1998/1999	Didier Opertti (Uruguay)	LA	Juan Somavia (Chile)	LA
Rotation between subregions begins.
2003/2004	Julian Robert Hunte (Saint Lucia)	Caribbean	Gert Rosenthal (Guatemala)	LA
2008/2009	Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann (Nicaragua)	LA	Léo Mérorès (Haiti)	Caribbean
2013/2014	John William Ashe (Antigua and Barbuda)	Caribbean	Néstor Osorio (Colombia)	LA
2018/2019	María Fernanda Espinosa (Ecuador)	LA	Inga Rhonda King (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)	Caribbean
2023/2024	Dennis Francis	Caribbean	Paula Narváez (Chile)	LA

(*) Guyana is located in South America but culturally identifies as part of the Caribbean. It is both a member of CARICOM and was part of UNASUR.

With this point clear, the question is how each subregion will position itself. The only time a Latin American and Caribbean person served as Secretary-General was between 1982 and 1991 with Javier Pérez de Cuellar (Peru), who came to the position to break a complicated election as a compromise candidate between Cold War powers. Some understand that, by virtue of the political rotation agreement, it would now correspond to the Caribbean to occupy this position, but others maintain that this agreement only applies to positions after its achievement; therefore, Pérez de Cuellar's secretariat "doesn't count" in the distribution exercise.

Second, but carrying significant weight, are the ideological differences between current governments in the region, which present opposing political programs, and the almost total absence of "mediators" who can facilitate dialogue—a role that Brazil attempts to play, but with limited success. Would countries like Argentina and Paraguay be willing to support a socially oriented candidate open to dialogue with countries like Iran or Venezuela? Would countries like Colombia or Uruguay accept a female candidate who is not willing to engage in such dialogue? Today, the barrier seems difficult to overcome.

The best example appears in the recent elections for the Secretary-General and Assistant Secretary-General positions at the OAS. Albert Ramdin (Suriname) was elected Secretary-General by acclamation, but this was only achieved when, in a strong political move, Brazil withdrew its support for Rubén Ramírez Lezcano (Paraguay), who held a position more aligned with Trump than his contender, despite which the United States declared that both were equally acceptable to the country. These two facts made it impossible for Ramírez Lezcano and the countries backing him to maintain his candidacy.

The election of Laura Gil (Colombia) as the Assistant Secretary-General was different. The first ever elected woman for the position was selected after defeating Ana María Sánchez (Peru) in a second round of voting, by 19 votes to 13 —To be elected to the position, a person must gather 18 votes. Gil received support from Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Mexico, Uruguay, and most Caribbean countries; among those who supported Sánchez were Paraguay and Argentina. Again, the United States did not favor either of the competitors.

The region is, consequently, facing two possible lines of internal division. If its leaders cannot behave in a politically responsible manner —something far from certain— their opportunity to position themselves in the leadership of the UN during moments of crisis and redesign of the world's principal multilateral organization may be lost.