UNITED NATIONS - Venezuela pulled even with Guatemala in the sixth round of
voting for a
U.N. Security Council seat Monday.
Guatemala's Foreign Minister Gert
Rosenthal, right, places his vote in the ballot box at United Nations
Headquarters in New York, Monday, Oct. 16, 2006. The General Assembly was
electing five new non-permanent members to the Security Council.
[AP] |
After trailing Guatemala in the first five rounds of voting in the 192-nation
General Assembly, Venezuela finally garnered 93 votes, the same as its rival.
Mexico received one vote.
The earlier results were an embarrassment to Chavez, who had waged a highly
public campaign on the claim that his nation would use its seat on the council
to speak out against the United States. The U.S. and its allies argued that
Venezuela's stance could stymie the council and undermine its credibility.
Venezuela's U.N. Ambassador Francisco Arias Cardenas complained the United
States has pressured countries worldwide to prevent Venezuela from winning the
rotating seat.
"Venezuela will not withdraw - we're fighting until the end," Cardenas said.
"We are fighting against the first power of the world, the owners of the
universe. We're happy, we're strong and we will continue."
Guatemala, whose candidacy had been backed by the United States, never
received more than 116 votes, and got 93 in the sixth ballot. At one point,
Venezuela received just 70 votes, but it later rebounded.
Guatemala has the support of Colombia, apparently most of Central America,
and much of Europe. Some diplomats had expressed concern that Washington's
support might actually hurt its bid by turning the contest into a U.S. vs.
Chavez battle.
Diplomats said Chavez may have hurt his nation's chances with a bombastic
speech at the General Assembly debate in September, when he railed against the
United States and called
President George W. Bush "the devil" - a speech
criticized even by U.S. politicians who had reached out to Chavez.
The results appeared to indicate that a new candidate would emerge to take
one of the two council seats reserved for Latin American and Caribbean states.
Argentina leaves at the end of the year, and Peru holds the other until Dec. 31,
2007.
The six rounds so far were nowhere near the record ¡ª 155 rounds of voting in
1979. After 154 rounds could not determine a winner between Colombia and Cuba,
Mexico was finally chosen to take a seat on the council.
Venezuela has served four times on the Security Council. Guatemala, emerging
from years of brutal U.S.-backed dictatorship, has never had a seat but is a
leading contributor of troops to U.N. peacekeeping missions.
The 10 non-permanent seats on the council are filled by the regional groups
for two-year stretches. The other five are occupied by the veto-wielding
permanent members: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.
The 192-nation General Assembly elected South Africa, Indonesia, Italy and
Belgium to the four other open seats in the council. They will start their terms
on the council on Jan. 1, replacing Tanzania, Japan, Denmark and Greece.