Michelle Bachelet gains new backing for UN Secretary‑General bid

Former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet is expanding support for her candidacy to become Secretary‑General of the United Nations. The Progressive Alliance of the Americas highlighted her record as former UN Women executive director and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and announced backing from the governments of Brazil and Mexico.

In Chile, the Permanent Forum of Foreign Policy, composed of former ministers and diplomats, reaffirmed its support despite the right‑wing president José Antonio Kast withdrawing his endorsement. Bachelet has been on a diplomatic tour that included visits to Russia, France, Türkiye and China, and she participated in a Geneva debate alongside Ecuadorian candidate María Fernanda Espinosa and Costa Rican candidate Rebeca Grynspan. She pledged to make the UN more agile, efficient and accountable, stating, “I am not running to manage the present, but to help build the United Nations that the next 80 years will demand.”