Panama named for U.N. seat by Venezuela, Guatemala

By Daniel Trotta1 hour, 24 minutes ago

Breaking a deadlock, Guatemala and Venezuela on Wednesday chose Panama as a
consensus candidate and withdrew from the race for a seat on the U.N.
Security
Council, Ecuador's U.N. ambassador said.

"They have agreed that Panama will be the country that will replace them as
a candidate for the Security Council," said Ecuador's Diego Cordovez, who
hosted
talks between the foreign ministers of Guatemala and Venezuela.

The 35-member Latin American and Caribbean group must still approve the
choice after which the U.N. General Assembly has to vote. But the decision
by Foreign
Ministers Gert Rosenthal of Guatemala and Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela is
expected to stand.

Guatemala, backed by the United States, led Venezuela by about 25 votes in
all but one of the 47 rounds of balloting. The voting began on October 16
and
ran for five days. But Guatemala fell short of a required two-thirds
majority in the 192-member U.N. General Assembly to secure the seat.

The 47th round was conducted on Tuesday and a new vote is scheduled in the
assembly next Tuesday.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has called the contest a campaign against
U.S. dominance over developing nations.

Although Venezuela is a major oil supplier to the United States, ties have
deteriorated, particularly since Chavez described Washington as his No. 1
enemy
and called President George W. Bush "the devil" in a General Assembly speech
in September. Diplomats said that cost him votes.

"Panama appreciates the consideration from both the Venezuelan and Guatemala
governments," its U.N. ambassador, Ricardo Alberto Arias told Reuters.

Panama, diplomats said, was not mentioned until late in the day of talks
between Guatemala and Venezuela. Other potential candidates included
Barbados,
Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay.

Maduro told reporters that "Venezuela will continue to try for the
democratization of the United Nations."

He said it was necessary to have "a system that serves peace, that worked
for the entire world and not one power," a reference to the United States.

Guatemala's Rosenthal, who had been campaigning for the seat for four years,
called U.S. support "a double-edged sword."

"In some ways it probably damaged our campaign, in others it helped,"
Rosenthal told reporters.

But Rosenthal aid Panama was a nation that united Central America and South
America.

"We are concerned about the idea of divisions between the north and the
south of Latin America and would like to put the idea to rest by seeking a
country
that is well received at both ends of our continent," Rosenthal said.

The United States, Russia, Britain, France and China hold permanent seats on
the Security Council, the most powerful U.N. body. Ten other nations sit on
the council for two-year terms, five elected each year.

Guatemala and Venezuela were vying for the Latin American seat that
Argentina will vacate on December 31. Peru stays on the council until the
end of 2007
along with the Congo Republic, Ghana, Qatar and Slovakia.

In other regions, South Africa, Indonesia, Italy and Belgium received the
necessary votes on October 16 to win two-year terms in the council. They
replace
Tanzania, Japan, Denmark and Greece.

(Additional reporting by Chris Aspin in Mexico City.)

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Posted by Miriam V.