US envoy Waltz appears to torpedo Bachelet as next UN leader

The U.S. envoy to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, appeared to torpedo the candidacy of former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet to be the next leader of the world body on Wednesday by saying he shared a U.S. senator's concerns about her fitness for the job.



At a U.S. Senate committee hearing, Republican Senator Pete Ricketts of Nebraska charged that Bachelet had pulled punches as U.N. human rights chief in a 2022 report in failing to label China's actions against Uyghur Muslims as genocide, and has also promoted abortion as a fundamental human right.



Waltz said he was not currently in a position to say whom the United States would support to replace U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and whom it would oppose. But he said in response to Ricketts, "I share your concerns."



He added that he was sure that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also shared the concerns.