Venezuela Seeking UN Security Council Seat
In October, elections will take place in the
United Nations General Assembly for five non-permanent seats on the Security
Council for a two-year term starting January 1, 2007. Venezuela and Guatemala
are contesting the one seat which is reserved for Latin America and the
Caribbean. This seat is currently held by Argentina. Guatemala was the first to
announce its candidacy. It is considered the unofficial candidate of the United
States. Venezuela joined the race later. Venezuela wants the seat in order to
oppose U.S. hegemony in the region and to oppose the neo-liberal policies of
the imperialists in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The United States is saying that the presence
of Venezuela on the Security Council would be "disruptive" and
"non-consensus seeking". In spite of its veto power on the Security
Council, the United States does not want any opposition to its policies within the
Council. It is particularly concerned that Venezuela's presence at this time
would get in the way of U.S. plans for sanctions against Iran. Venezuela voted
against the IAEA resolution drafted by the big five powers which referred Iran
to the Security Council in February 2006.
The United States is threatening reprisals
against Latin America and Caribbean countries that vote for Venezuela. For
example, Washington has agreed to sell F-16 fighter jets to Chile, but is
warning that Chilean pilots will not be trained to fly them if the Chilean government
supports Venezuela's Security Council bid. One of Chile's largest daily
newspapers, La Tercera, reported that during a
visit by Chilean Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley to
the U.S. State Department on April 21, 2006, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice stated that Venezuela's candidacy
"aims at the heart of U.S. interests" and that the United States
"will not understand" a vote by Chile in favour
of Venezuela. Rice told the Chilean minister that "Chile could fall into a
group of losers, against the feelings of the United States, Mexico, part of
Central America and almost all of Europe."
At the same meeting U.S. Under Secretary of State Robert Zoellick told Foxley that
bilateral relations would be "decisively damaged" and the costs to
Chile in terms of commercial trade would be extremely high.
Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, is actively lobbying to win the Security Council seat. In July he took his campaign abroad and visited Iran, Russia, Belarus, Mali, Benin, Qatar and Vietnam. He also met with representatives of the Arab League and African Union. In Latin America and the Caribbean, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, Cuba, and the fifteen countries that make up the Economic Community of the Caribbean (Caricom) are publicly supporting Venezuela, while Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Colombia are publicly supporting Guatemala. Even though all commentators admit that Venezuela has more support in the General Assembly than Guatemala, it is not certain that Venezuela has secured the 128 votes needed to win the Security Council seat.