Venezuela closer to get a seat at the UN Security Council

The US bid to block Caracas election is failing, says Caracas.

Photo: Venezuela closer to get a seat at the UN Security Council

A Venezuelan diplomat confirmed on Thursday that Washington efforts to block the election of the South American country as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council have "gone very badly so far." According to Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro, Washington is failing to erode international support for his country's efforts to win a seat on the U.N. Security Council in a secret ballot next month.

Washington has been trying to block the incorporation of Venezuela by promoting Guatemala in the race for the rotating seat, saying that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's government would be a disruptive influence on the council. However Caracas managed to obtain support from Latin American and Middle Eastern nations to occupy the seat.

Maduro also said that Venezuela would oppose the U.S. government's "imperialist vision" if elected to the council, as challenged his US counterpart, Condoleezza Rice  (articles) for suggesting that Venezuela's anti-U.S. stance would make the 15-member Security Council unworkable. Rice told The Wall Street Journal on Monday that Venezuela's election to the council "would mean the end of consensus on the Security Council."

"Facing the empire, we are saying, 'Yes, we are going to build a new consensus, not of war, not of abuse. We are going to build the consensus of the peoples of the South,'" Maduro said.

Argentina, Brazil and other Latin American nations have announced their votes for Venezuela, as Central American nations will follow US suggestion and are expected to support fellow Guatemala.

Relations between Caracas and Washington have been particularly tense after minister Maduro was briefly detained on Saturday by officials at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Venezuela officially presented a letter of protest to the United States on Tuesday, against “the illegal detention of Foreign Minister Maduro in the New York Airport.” Maduro was detained last Saturday evening at JFK airport in New York for an hour and a half, in which he stated that the officers confiscated his documents and threatened to use force and handcuffs. According to reports, Maduro was released after the United Nations (UN) intervened.

Tuesday’s letter to the US demanded, “categorically to the government of the United States a public amends in the international realm, such as the adoption of pertinent measures regarding the unfriendly, reputable and unacceptable act, of which the Foreign Minister was the subject.”

Hernan Etchaleco
Pravda.ru