WASHINGTON, May 2 (Xinhuanet) -- Chilean Interior Minister Jose Miguel Insulza was elected secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS) here on Monday after a marathon race withWashington failing to get its favored candidates endorsed.

    Insulza was elected to head the 34-member organization with 31 votes. The result was virtually assured after the withdrawal of another front-runner, Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez, from the race on Friday.

    U.S. officials said earlier that Derbez, endorsed by Washington,withdrew his bid in order to enable the OAS to rally behind a single candidate.

    The race, which is one of the stiffest since the group was founded in 1948, was launched after the previous OAS chief, formerCosta Rican President Miguel Angel Rodriguez, quit last October amid a financial scandal back home.

    The United States had previously backed El Salvador's former president Francisco Flores, but he withdrew in April due to lack of support. Enditem