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	Former Nicaraguan Official Wins U.N. Assembly Presidency By Neil MacFarquhar New York Times June 5, 2008 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/world/americas/05nations.html?ex=1213329600&en=19b98d859b1f40ac&ei=5070&emc=eta1 UNITED NATIONS — The Rev. Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, an outspoken leftist critic of the United States and a former foreign minister in Nicaragua's Sandinista government, was elected president of the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday. Mr. d'Escoto, 75, an American-born Roman Catholic priest, said he would not use his new position as a platform to disparage the United States, but wasted no time at taking a few oblique swipes at Washington. In his inaugural speech, he said member states had to unite against "acts of aggression, such as those occurring in Iraq and Afghanistan." And, without naming the United States, he said no countries should act as if collective agreements applied to all but them. Asked about his past anti-American statements, including calling President Bush a liar during a June 2004 radio interview, Mr. d'Escoto said, "It is no secret to anyone that some of its policies have made for difficult relations, not only in Latin America, but for the rest of the world." Relations between Nicaragua and the United States were quite tense in the 1980s when American-financed contra rebels tried to overthrow the Sandinistas. Mr. d'Escoto, Nicaragua's foreign minister from 1989 to 1990, professed, however, to "love the U.S." and said Americans, too, seemed to want change, adding that he had noticed signs about "change that we can believe in." When it was pointed out that that message echoed Senator Barack Obama's campaign slogan, Mr. d'Escoto said flatly that he was not endorsing anyone. The American ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, told reporters that Mr. d'Escoto had said some "unacceptable things in the past," but that the United States had been assured that he would use his one-year presidency to create consensus. Differences over American policy toward Iraq and Afghanistan should come as no surprise, Mr. Khalilzad added. The General Assembly controls the United Nations budget, but its resolutions are nonbinding. Among Mr. d'Escoto's tasks will be inviting Mr. Bush to address the group for his last time as president at its annual meeting this fall.
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