Go forth with the bayonet!

[RedFlag32]

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez vowed that Venezuela will win a seat on
the UN Security Council in a tightly contested vote today despite months
of US lobbying against his country’s bid.

A rotating Security Council seat would give the leftist Chavez a higher
profile and a platform on the world stage to challenge what he calls US
“imperialism” in regions from the Middle East to Latin America.

Today’s vote by the UN General Assembly will be an important diplomatic
test for Chavez, gauging his ability to lobby head-to-head against the US,
which has actively backed Guatemala.

“Go forth with the bayonet! Venezuela is going to the Security Council,”
Chavez said Sunday, encouraging Venezuela’s ambassador to the United
Nations, Francisco Arias Cardenas.

He accused Washington of waging “a dirty war” against his country in a
last-ditch effort to prevent it from defeating Guatemala.

www.breakingnews.ie/2006/10/16/story281241.html

[RedFlag32]

New York - The hotly contested Latin American seat on the UN Security
Council remained open Monday after four rounds of voting, with US-backed
Guatemala falling short of the two-thirds majority needed to claim the
seat.

The race could now be thrown open to third, compromise candidates from
Latin America and the Caribbean.

Washington has launched an all-out effort to block Venezuela from the
seat, with a wary eye on the looming challenger in its own backyard,
leftist populist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, whose popularity has
rocketed in Latin America with his increasingly strident anti-US rhetoric.

In the four consecutive votes, the General Assembly gave Guatemala between
109 and 116 votes, short of the necessary 124 votes, while Venezuela
received between 70 and 76, even though it had campaigned strongly for a
seat on the 15-nation council.

Chavez's speech in September is still fresh in the collective memory of
the assembly, when he called US President George Bush 'the devil' from the
UN podium and said it smelled of sulphur because Bush had stood there the
day before. Even Bush critics found his language shocking.

The 192-nation assembly planned to conduct more votes later Monday to find
a successor to Argentina, whose term as representative of Latin America on
the council expires in December..

Venezuela says it wants the council seat in order to overhaul the UN
Security Council and reduce the dominance of the five veto members: the
US, Russia, China, France and Britain.

Chavez has proclaimed himself champion of poor countries against rich
ones, particularly the US, using his country's oil wealth as the main
weapon. His slogan in running for the council seat had been 'social
justice, peace and security.'

To counter Chavez's ambitions, the US sided with Guatemala and campaigned
hard among UN members. The first results showed that the efforts paid off,
with Guatemala was leading in the votes - but not enough to beat
Venezuela.

Venezuela's campaign has also caused a split among Latin American
countries. Chile has charged that the government of President Hugo Chavez
has exerted pressure on Latin American nations to vote for him.

In the first round of ballot, Indonesia won over Nepal, receiving 158
votes against Nepal's 28 votes, to take over the seat to be vacated by
Japan end of the year.

South Africa got 186 votes and will replace outgoing Tanzania for the
African continent.

Belgium received 180 votes to replace Denmark and Italy received 186 votes
to replace Greece.

The 15-nation council has five permanent members and 10 elected on
two-year terms. Each year, the assembly elects five to replace the
outgoing members.