ROME — FAO Director General José Graziano da Silva ordered the UN agency’s Washington office to ‘doctor’ a video of the Brazilian agronomist briefly addressing the Our Ocean’s conference from the floor ‘to make it look like he was a major player at the conference,’ the acting head of the office has been quoted as saying.

 Dr Graziano ordered the visual wizardry after being snubbed by the United States during a trip the FAO supremo made to Washington during which Secretary of State John Kerry refused a request for an audience in an evident quid pro quo for Graziano slashing the numbers of U.S. professional staff at the Rome-Based agency so as to promote his Latin American and Iberian cronies, acting head of office in Washington Barbara Ekwall was quoted by diplomatic sources telling colleagues.

 Italian Insider disclosed as Graziano began his trip how the United States has been deemed by the FAO human resources department the most under represented contributor nation at the FAO despite being by far the biggest donor to the hunger-fighting organisation.

 Dr Graziano also was mortified that he was not invited to a reception thrown by actor Leonardo di Caprio following the actor’s campaign against overfishing, the sources said.

  “He had the LOWA office video his little floor intervention during the Ocean's Conference and then edit it to make it look like he was a major player at the conference,” one source quoted ms Ekwall saying.