Venezuela’s campaign for a seat on the UN Security Council is reaching a climax in the face of fierce resistance from the Bush administration.
Hugo Chávez has invested billions of dollars and a year of globetrotting in cementing his position as a global player. Venezuelan diplomats predict they will win a General Assembly vote this month on their country’s bid for a two-year spot on the council, giving Chávez a platform from which to assail the United States and champion Iran.
Victory is not assured because the vote is secret and countries can break promises to vote a certain way. But analysts agree that Caracas, awash with oil wealth and a leading critic of the White House, is well positioned. ‘It would be a big psychological defeat for the US and be recorded as such,” said Larry Birns, director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, a Washington-based think-tank. ‘The US reputation in Latin America is at its lowest since the end of the second world war.”
The contest has become a personal battle between the former paratrooper and George Bush. Chávez used a General Assembly address in New York last month to brand his foe a ‘devil”.
Bush reportedly speaks in private about ‘beating” the self-proclaimed socialist revolutionary.
The presidents are also vying over Nicaragua, where Washington’s cold war nemesis, Daniel Ortega, could return to power in an election next month. Chavez has endorsed Ortega and offered cheap oil to his supporters.
The US, along with Mexico and Colombia, has backed Guatemala to fill Latin America’s Security Council seat, one of 10 rotating seats. Argentina and Brazil back Venezuela. —