Would-be Ambassador to OAS Resigns, Another Appointed

COSTA Rican diplomat JavierSancho has been named Costa Rica’s newAmbassador to the Organization of theAmerican States (OAS), after RinaContreras, who was to assume the postMonday, resigned last week.Contreras said her father’s recentdeath and her need to spend more timewith her mother was the main reason forher decision.She also said that because of “recentevents,” she considers it “important thatthe person who assumes the ambassadorshipbefore the OAS does it quickly, andthis situation would not permit me to.”Former Costa Rican President MiguelÁngel Rodríguez stepped down from hispost as OAS Secretary General Oct. 15 –exactly a month after he took office asCentral America’s first OAS chief – amidcorruption allegations, only to be arrestedupon his return to Costa Rica (see separatestory).