ROME -- Suave FAO media kingpin Mario Lubetkin is expected to be named Chef de Cabinet at the UN agency as Director General José Graziano da Silva consolidates the Latin American grip on the organisation following his election to a second term, FAO sources said Monday.

 Senor Lubetkin, the Uruguayan former longtime head of the troubled IPS news agency, was expected to replace Italian Fernanda Guerrieri in the top job running  Graziano's nerve centre. "Lubetkin has both Uruguayan and Italian nationalities, so the Italians will not be worried about Graziano kicking out Guerrieri from her current Chef de Cabinet post," a veteran FAO watcher said. 

 Nevertheless it remained to be seen whether even formidable multi-tasker Lubetkin is able to retain his other longstanding hat as Uruguayan ambassador to the FAO in his new capacity or whether Graziano would deem it a conflict of interest. 

 In another development Graziano axed the Spanish Assistant Director-General of FAO Forestry Department Eduardo Rojas-Briales, asking him to stand down by July 31, reportedly for his replacement by a Russian to meet another campaign promise to Moscow in return for support, the sources said. 

 The shafting of Rojas-Briales, who also was appointed UN Commissioner-General to Expo 2015 by Graziano, seemed to signal a halt to a rash of appointments of Spanish staffers to senior positions, many of them with links to the Spanish ruling party, the conservative Partido Popular.

 After narrowly defeating a former Spanish foreign minister to win election, Graziano accommodated a string of Spaniards in high-level positions, possibly to ensure that sour grapes did not lead Madrid to try and undermine the Brazilian, FAO watchers say.

  Among the recent high-level appointments are Rodrigo De Lapuerta, Director, Office for Decentralization, D-2, Enrique Yeves, soon-to-be Director of Communications, D-2, Clara Velez-Fraga, soon-to-be Chief, Outreach and Promotions, P5, Pedro Javaloyes, soon-to-be Chief, Library and Publications, P-5, and Patricia Pascoe, soon-to-be Communications Officer, P-4, the sources said.

  Observers indicate that many of the Hispanic high-fliers have political and family connections to the Partido Popular in Spain while Graziano also appointed the Spanish Queen Consort Letizia as Extraordinary Ambassador for Nutrition at the recently-concluded FAO Conference Session.

  One FAO watcher noted that with the exception of Forestry boffin Rojas-Briales " the above-noted Spaniards are generalists, with little if any developmental experience and, as such, are involved in 'communications'  activities of dubious value for the Organization.  Indeed, diplomatic sources have noted that 'communications' at FAO seem to have become a rapidly-growing 'propaganda machine.'"

 Ms Velez Fraga is the niece of Manuel Fraga, who was the President of the Galician Region right after the death of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco.  Rajoy, the current Partido Popular Prime Minister of Spain, also a Galician, was Fraga's protegé.