 The US has launched a diplomatic campaign to block Venezuela's bid to become a member of the United Nations security council out of concern that Hugo Chávez's government would use its seat to try to block punitive measures against Iran. Washington has publicly backed Guatemala's rival effort to take the two-year rotating council next year, but it has reportedly gone further in recent weeks - threatening retaliatory action against Latin American countries who support the Venezuelan bid.
| One of the advantages of being a Great Satan is that every once in a while you can act like the Great Satan. |
According to the Los Angeles Times, Chile is one of the countries under pressure. Washington has agreed to sell the country F-16 warplanes, but has since warned that Chilean pilots would not be trained to fly them if the government backed Venezuela's bid. The Chilean embassy in Washington had no comment on the report yesterday, but a state department spokeswoman, Amanda Rogers-Harper, said the story was false. However, she added that, while it was up to each country to decide whom to vote for, "it should not come as a surprise that we believe Venezuela would not contribute to the functioning of the UN security council, as evidenced by its behaviour in other international fora".
Ms Rogers-Harper said that Guatemala's contributions to the UN, for example in sending peacekeepers to the Democratic Republic of Congo, showed it was a "viable candidate".
| So the pressure worked, though it should never have become public. |
The diplomatic offensive, in which Condoleezza Rice is reported to be playing a leading role, is intended to deprive Venezuela of a vote and a platform in the security council at a time when the Bush administration anticipates a confrontation with Iran over its nuclear programme.
If Latin American countries nominate Venezuela to take the region's seat on the 15-member council, currently held by Argentina, Mr Chávez would not get a UN veto, but his opposition to UN sanctions on Iran could prove a rallying point for other small countries. Venezuela would also have a one-month turn as the council chairman, when it would have an important role in setting its agenda.
Larry Birns, a Latin American expert at the liberal thinktank the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, predicted the US diplomatic offensive would fail. "The Latin American caucus at the UN has always been sensitive to US intervention in their choice of the region's representative," he said. "The US previously attempted to isolate Chávez in the OAS [Organisation of American States] and failed. To my mind, there is no question that it will backfire."
| Thanks Larry for the liberal doom and gloom perspective. Were you smiling when you said this? |
Mr Birns said that Venezuela had its own leverage over its neighbours in the form of cheap oil. "Chávez's petro-diplomacy has made him relatively immune from US pressure."
| Until he runs out of oil and the Russians decline to sell him more. |
In Brazil, the presidential assistant for international issues, Marco Aurelio Garcia, said last week that it would be natural for his country, which shares a long border with Venezuela, to back Mr Chávez.
The Venezuelan leader has shown his determination to press on with his bid, declaring on his weekly television show: "Venezuela is a candidate and it will not withdraw." The country's ambassador to the UN ridiculed Guatemala's rival bid as a thinly veiled proxy for US interests. Francisco Javier Arias Cárdenas told the Los Angeles Times Guatemala's candidacy "is not really its own. It does not defend or promote its aspirations and concerns, but it is rather endorsing foreign interests." Any vote for Guatemala "is really going to the United States," he said.
| There's the problem, and that's why this should never have become public. Chavez should have been presented with a "gee, sorry, better luck next time" moment. |
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