Costa Rican diplomat emerges as strong contender to be first female head of UN

Rebeca Grynspan seen as continuity candidate with tacit support from current secretary general, António Guterres A Costa Rican diplomat and former vice-president whose parents were refugees from the Holocaust has become the surprise frontrunner to lead the United Nations as its first female secretary general. Rebeca Grynspan, whose parents emigrated to Central America from Poland – and whose maternal grandparents were killed by the Nazis – is the current head of the UN conference on trade and development (UNCTAD), a body that has exhaustively tallied the economic damage inflicted by Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories. The current secretary general, António Guterres, will complete his second term on 31 December 2026 and under an informal system of regional rotation his successor is expected to come from Latin America. In a secret first straw poll of the UN security council, the five permanent and 10 temporary members were asked to say whether they supported, objected to or were neutral about each of seven candidates.

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Scoop News DeskCentral America · Published Sunday, August 9, 2026 at 7:00 AM UTCUpdated Sunday, August 9, 2026 at 7:22 AM UTC

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This partial, estimated lost potential, equivalent to nearly 20 times the entire Palestinian GDP of 2024, stems directly from Israeli occupation policies, restrictions, closures, and recurrent military operations.” In November 2025 Grynspan pointed out that Gaza’s GDP per capita had plummeted to $161 per person per year, one of the most severe economic contractions in modern history.