A U.N. General Assembly vote set for October to award two-year Security Council seats to five nations is the latest arena for sparring between Caracas and Washington, which views Chavez as a strongman using Venezuela's oil wealth to promote an anti-democratic agenda throughout Latin America.
"We accept this challenge against the empire," Chavez told military officers at a promotion ceremony in Caracas. "The United States says Venezuela will not go to the Security Council and we say Venezuela will."
The world's fifth-largest oil exporter and an OPEC member, Venezuela is already vocally opposing Washington's attempts to press for U.N. action against Iran over its nuclear program.