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Venezuela slams US for trying to thwart its bid to join Security Council
AFP
UNITED NATIONS
Petroleumworld.com 09 29 06
In another blistering anti-American tirade, Venezuela on Thursday slammed US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for trying to thwart its bid to secure a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
"The US government is doing its best ...to prevent Venezuela from becoming a member of the Security Council," Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro told reporters after attending a council meeting. "Rice has left part of her normal agenda just to devote herself totally to this campaign against Venezuela."
The United States, which accuses Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of seeking to destabilize democracies in Latin America, has backed Guatemala's rival bid for one of the seats reserved for a Latin American nation.
The Security Council has 15 members of which five -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- are permanent members with veto rights. New non-permanent members on the council are due to be designated next month.
"Our debate is not with Guatemala, our debate is rather with Condoleezza Rice," said Maduro, who last week touched off a diplomatic furor over his brief detention at a New York airport, for which Washington has apologized.
"However they (the Americans) will not be able to stop the emerging world of the South who are looking for justice in the world, a balanced world with solidarity and cooperation."
Maduro said Caracas was pushing "for a multipolar world that would put an end to the (US-led) unipolar world that has been so damaging to the rest of the world, that has created so many economic and social problems, not to mention wars."
He said that by seeking a seat on the Security Council, Venezuela aspired to be "an independent voice, the voice of the people of the South fighting for the democratization of the UN system".
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal released Monday, Rice said that the Security Council needs "responsible states" and not those who want to air their anti-American views at the expense of solving crucial problems, in a clear reference to Venezuela.
"This is about whether or not a state is responsible or simply wishes to have a constant struggle with the United States every day on every issue, thereby making the Security Council unworkable," Rice said when asked about Venezuela's chances.
She referred to a speech Chavez gave last week before the UN General Assembly, in which he described US President George W. Bush as "the devil," and suggested that the September 11 attacks on the United States were self-inflicted.
"I will tell you that I think Hugo Chavez did himself no good with that speech," Rice said. "And whatever press attention it got, it also got the attention of a lot of people who worry about the responsibilities of the Security Council."
On Saturday's incident at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport when he claimed he was threatened and stripped of his travel documents, Maduro said: "We are not asking for privileges. We are just asking for respect for the people of the South, for an end to any type of racism against the people of the South."
"We cannot tolerate any longer that because of people's skin color, religion or nationality, they are subject to abuse in US airports," he added.
AFP 28 1959 GMT 09 06
Copyright ©2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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