Venezuela fights US bid to keep it off UN panel
By Andy Webb-Vidal and Mark Turner
June 19, 2006
The Financial Times
Original Source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/a60fdf02-ffe1-11da-93a0-0000779e2340.html

President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela is fighting to win a seat on the United Nations Security Council, in the face of US efforts to derail Venezuela’s campaign by lobbying on behalf of Guatemala.
Mr Chávez has long viewed a seat on the council as a vital part of winning representation for Venezuela – and by extension, he argues, for poorer nations – in international organisations. 
A two-year open seat will become available this year, and Venezuela has already begun soliciting support from other governments in Latin America and the Caribbean. 
Regional diplomatic heavyweights such as Argentina – whose seat Venezuela is seeking to fill – and Brazil have indicated that they would back Caracas, as have countries farther afield, such as Syria.
The US has raised concerns about ties between Venezuela and Iran, including fears that Venezuela’s presence on the council could undermine efforts by Washington to put pressure on Tehran over its nuclear programme. On Monday a senior US State Department official described Venezuela’s international approach as “confrontational” rather than “problem-solving”.
In an interview with the FT on Monday, Mr Chávez’s recently appointed ambassador to the UN, Francisco Arias, said Venezuela’s presence on the council would allow it to represent the interests of developing countries in the “south”.
Mr Arias, who took part as an army officer in Mr Chávez’s coup attempt in 1992, said US efforts to scupper Venezuela’s bid would work against Washington.
“The position stated by officials in the US government – that countries should not vote for us because we represent a danger – shows lack of respect,” he said.
“The US already has excessive power: a permanent seat plus the power of veto,” he added. “But the campaign by the US will end up being counterproductive.”
To reinforce Mr Arias’s mission, Mr Chávez has appointed Roy Chaderton-Matos, seen as Venezuela’s most experienced career diplomat, as a parallel special envoy to the UN.
“Venezuela is going to do everything possible to win a seat in the Security Council,” said Jocelyn Henríquez, the director of the Centre for Diplomatic and Strategic Analysis, a think-tank in Caracas. 
Washington’s lobbying efforts may be on shaky ground. César Mayoral, Argentina’s ambassador to the UN, said on Monday it looked “very bad for Guatemala”, adding that US support for Guatemala was undermining the Central American country’s chances.
He said Argentina, like most of South America, was backing Venezuela, but one of Venezuela’s greatest challenges would be to win Chile’s vote.
Alejandro Foxley, Chile’s foreign minister, said at the weekend that Santiago would probably back a consensus candidate from a third country.