Insulza of Chile sworn in to head OAS
Jose Miguel Insulza of Chile was sworn in as secretary general of the Organization of American States, at its headquarters.

The former Chilean vice president and interior minister was elected to the OAS post on May 2, to succeed Miguel Angel Rodríguez,, who resigned to face corruption charges in his native Costa Rica. Rodríguez  served as president of Costa Rica from 1998-2002.and is currently under house arrest.

Insulza assumed his post 10 days before the OAS annual assembly, to be held June 5-7 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

US representative to the OAS Luigi Einaudi had held the position of acting secretary general.

Insulza spoke in favor of a US-backed initiative to monitor Latin America's democracies as he met for the first time with the press as secretary general.

"It is not about giving the governments a grade, but to be able to say with deliberation that there are problems here, difficulties here, needs here," Insulza said, after an earlier speech in which he asked for the tools for what he called the effective application of the OAS Democratic Charter, which can impose sanctions on countries that stray from constitutional democracy.

"I do not like the word 'monitor' very much," he said, alluding to the US plan, which envisions a democracy monitoring commission, which Venezuela rejected immediately.

Insulza said his alternative, an "evaluation mechanism," should exist with the understanding of member states that it would not intervene in their domestic affairs.

Insulza, 61, has served as Chile's foreign minister and interior minister, as well as being named vice president when President Ricardo Lagos was traveling outside Chile.

He has held cabinet posts for a total of 10 years, longer than anyone in Chile's history, despite a 14-year exile during Chile's military dictatorship under
Augusto Pinochet 1973-1990.

It was while exiled in Mexico that he met his Mexican wife, Georgina Nunez.