Panama gets South American UN Security Council seat
Ending a two-week standoff, Venezuela and Guatemala on Wednesday bowed out of the race for Latin America's seat on the U.N. Security Council and chose Panama as a compromise candidate.
The contest had become a protracted battle between Guatemala, backed by the United States, and Venezuela, which portrayed itself as a challenger to U.S. dominance in the U.N. Guatemala led in 47 rounds of voting but was not able to clinch the two-thirds majority needed to win the seat. On Wednesday evening, foreign ministers from Venezuela and Guatemala met in New York to resolve the deadlock.
Chavez's "Bush is the devil" speech killed Venezuela's chance of getting the seat. And while Guatemala had a large backing, those opposed to it where never going to agree. Thus a compromise candidate had to be put forth.
Jay