Venezuela Accuses Bush Administration of Blackmailing Other Countries Over UN Seat

On Thursday the Bush administration urged Venezuela to give up its campaign to win a seat on the United Nations Security Council. Over the past four days, the UN General Assembly has conducted 30 rounds of votes to decide whether Venezuela or Guatemala should represent Latin America on the Security Council. Guatemala has won every round of voting but has failed to secure the needed two-thirds majority.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said he would use the seat to be "the voice of the South” and to challenge American hegemony. Prior to the voting President Chavez accused the White House of waging a dirty war against its candidacy.

* Hugo Chavez: "I have said that it's not going to be easy, because at the same time the empire (the United States) is moving all of its pieces and pressuring and trying to blackmail half the world to try to impede us from becoming a non-permanent member of the Security Council.”

On Thursday, John Bolton – the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations – urged Venezuela to drop out of the race.

* John Bolton: "I think the will of the General Assembly is quite clear. Guatemala has been up by about 30 votes consistently; they're very close to a two-thirds majority, and the honorable thing would be for the candidate who has now lost 28 out of 29 votes to withdrawal. But, if Venezuela insists on putting everybody through all this, vote, after vote, after vote, we'll be here and we'll continue to support Guatemala."

Voting is expected to resume on Wednesday but Guatemala called for a longer extension. This is Guatemala’s Foreign Minister Gert Rosenthal.

* Gert Rosenthal: "We would like there to be a longer recess so that we could talk among ourselves and between ourselves to see if we can find a way out. We are not happy with tying up the work of the General Assembly, but for the time being, since we are in the lead, we have no intention of stepping down."

Francisco Arias Cardenas, Venezuela’s Ambassador to the U.N. -- he joins me now in the studio. Luisa Golindano will help us with translation... Welcome to Democracy Now.

* Francisco Arias Cardenas, Venezuelan ambassador to the United Nations.

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