The Nicaraguan Werner Vargas Torres, former executive director of the General Secretariat of the Central American Integration System (SICA) during the presidency of the Guatemalan Vinicio Cerezo in the organization (2014-2020), is the new candidate of the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo to occupy the position of secretary general that has been vacant for a year, due to repeated attempts by the regime to bend the rules of the body or place political chips without regional diplomatic experience in its place.
Two diplomatic sources linked to Central American governments confirmed to CONFIDENTIAL that, contrary to the previous proposals of Ortega, this candidate has a more technical profile and does have the support of the other Central American countries, to be elected by the foreign ministers next Thursday, June 23.
Sources linked to the regional organization revealed that Werner Vargas is the candidate for whom Ortega finally opted to assume the position of secretary general of SICA, instead of Orlando Solórzano, former head of the Ministry of Development, Industry and Commerce (Mific).
Unofficial versions indicate that Solórzano, who was the orteguismo candidate to occupy the position in SICA, he lost the approval of the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo as a candidate. Meanwhile, for his departure from Mific, health problems were officially argued.
Werner Vargas has experience in regional integration issues
The appointment of Werner Vargas would be the proposal that has the support of the countries of the region, as can also be deduced from the recent declarations of the Foreign Minister of Costa Rica, Arnoldo André Tinocowho on June 15 appeared before the Committee on International Relations and Foreign Trade of the Costa Rican Parliament, indicating that there would be a candidate who would have the support of the region.
The sources linked to the regional organization that were consulted by CONFIDENTIAL They also indicated that this new list of Ortega proposals was made up of Myriam Vásquez, who has held technical and legal advisory positions in organizations and the Government, and Claudio Arana, legal advisor to the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry.
Werner Vargas has extensive experience in matters related to Central American regional integration, which would earn him consensus with the other countries.
According to their professional profile on LinkedIn, has held positions as Secretary of Parliamentary Affairs in the Central American Parliament; director for European Union issues, and head of office at the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry between 2008 and 2010. He was also a legal collaborator of the Central American Court of Justice (ICJ) between 2010 and 2014, a position he left to occupy the executive direction of SICA .
SICA sources assured that Werner Vargas left the position of executive director due to differences with the Cerezo chief of staff, but he is highly appreciated in the different instances linked to regional integration.
The revelations of the foreign minister of Costa Rica
According to the rotation to occupy the General Secretariat of SICA, agreed by the Central American countries, the SICA secretariat corresponds to Nicaragua for the period 2021-2025. However, there was no progress with the proposals made by Ortega for the position.
If Werner Vargas is elected this June 23, the foreign ministers will also have to set his term in office, considering that this is for a term of four years, but he has not been in office for almost a full year due to the ‘impasse’.
When Costa Rican Foreign Minister André Tinoco was consulted by parliamentarians about the situation of SICA, he replied: “Since I took office on (last) May 8, I have reactivated the issue with my Central American colleagues. We agreed to send the Foreign Minister of Guatemala to Managua on a special mission. The management bore fruit and three days ago we received a new proposal for the SICA general secretary and one of those names in that list apparently finds acceptance in the rest of the Central American countries.”
“Coming soon – he added – it is possible that the Gordian knot that we have had with SICA will be resolved and finally an appointment of a secretary general will be achieved and this regional organization can thus be reactivated. And with that, progress would be made in SICA with the issue of regional cooperation, and the Central American institutions could finally count on this forum”.
The arrival of the Guatemalan foreign minister, Mario Adolfo Búcaro Flores, in Managua in the special mission revealed by the Costa Rican foreign minister, was officially reported by the Government of Nicaragua, as a representative of the presidency pro tempore of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS).
SICA without general secretary for a year
This coming June 29, SICA will complete a year without having a general secretary due to the ‘impasse’ caused by Ortega, an unprecedented event in the 30-year history of the regional organization.
Before Werner Vargas, the candidacy of Orlando Solórzano was the third attempt by the Ortega regime to place someone loyal in office, after the two previous proposals were rejected by most of the countries in the region.
First, the regime proposed that the last secretary general, former president Cerezoaccused of sympathizing with Ortega, remained in office, but the proposal was rejected by Belize.
The newspaper La Nación, from Costa Rica, published that the Foreign Ministry of Belize sent a diplomatic communication to San José on June 22, 2021, where it recalls that the Tegucigalpa Protocol —founding document of SICA— “does not contemplate the extension of the mandate” of the general secretary.
“(Belize) adds that the spirit of that agreement (of 2017) was that the secretary general must be of the nationality of the member state that is responsible for proposing candidates,” according to the publication.
The list rejected by Central America
Subsequently, the regime proposed a terna headed by former Sandinista guerrilla Orlando José Tardencilla, who had a fleeting step as representative of Nicaragua before the OAS; the architect Luz Marina López Escobar, architect and technical coordinator of the Infrastructure Secretariat of the Autonomous Regional Government of the North Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua, and María Amelia Coronel Kinloch, who since 2017 has served as head of the Ministry of the Interior (Migob).
However, this shortlist was rejected because it was made up of “people without much knowledge” in the foreign service, and “very close to the regime,” according to the reactions of the member countries.
