Washington, Santiago deny a report that Clinton won't back OAS chief's reelection

The State Department has denied a story in the Chilean daily El Mercurio that the Obama administration would not endorse José Miguel Insulza's reelection, the Chilean newspaper La Tercera reported late Sunday. (See blog item below.)
La Tercera said its Washington correspondent spoke with Assistant Secretary of State Thomas A. Shannon Jr., who told him that "the United States has not expressed its position to the Chilean government on this topic." To read the article, click here.
In Santiago, Foreign Minister Mariano Fernández also denied the story. "It is not true," he told La Tercera. "I don't know who the source is. [...] I've talked three times with [President Bachelet] and she has never mentioned the topic to me." To read that article, click here.[A rather uncomplimentary op-ed article about Insulza and the OAS appeared Monday in The Washington Post. Its title: "Double standards on Latin America."] [UPDATE: Insulza on Sunday rejected El Mercurio's account as a rumor intended "to cause an effect and damage." He suggested the newspaper's sources "are right-wing sources in the United States that oppose the government of the United States." Referring to the allegation that Clinton would not support his reelection bid, Insulza told the Chilean website Noticias123 that "I have been with the Secretary of State numerous times and she never told me that."]