UNGA 63: NICARAGUAN CANDIDACY FOR PGA

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 000134 SIPDIS C O R R E C T E D C O P Y (COR ROUTING INDICATOR) SIPDIS FOR IO AND WHA E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/11/2018 TAGS: PREL PGOV UNGA XK XL XM BR DR GT PA PM SUBJECT: UNGA 63: NICARAGUAN CANDIDACY FOR PGA REF: A) USUN 34 B) 07 USUN 941 C) USUN 00097 Classified By: Ambassador Alejandro D. Wolff, Deputy Permanent Represen tative, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) (C) During a one-on-one lunch on February 11, Ambassador Khalilzad raised U.S. concerns with the candidacy of Miguel D'Escoto for PGA with Panamanian FM Lewis Navarro. FM Lewis Navarro agreed that D'Escoto was a bad choice for PGA and the region, and further noted that the Nicaraguan was too ill to do the job. He agreed to work with the U.S. to help identify an alternate candidate, suggesting Paraguay or Guatemala as preferred options. He recommended that the U.S. and Panama reach out together to the Brazilians, requesting their engagement on finding a suitable candidate to represent GRULAC. Lewis Navarro thought a useful argument could be that, as a matter of balance with two Central American states on the Security Council, a South American ought to represent GRULAC as PGA. In this case, Paraguay, in particular Paraguayan UN PermRep Loizaga, would be the ideal candidate. Lewis Navarro predicted that once an alternative candidate came forward, others would follow, breaking the emerging (and otherwise perhaps inevitable?) consensus D'Escoto enjoys because of lack of competition. WOLFF