Chile’s government ordered their ambassador to Venezuela to return home due to remarks made during a TV interview. Claudio Huepe (image) told Telesur about a private conversation he had with President Michelle Bachelet over Venezuela’s bid for a seat on the U.N. Security Council (UNSC): "I had a chance to talk with her (Bachelet) about this topic in January. Earlier, I had voiced my opinion as ambassador, which was wrong, and my opinion was that Chile should support Venezuela. The President (Bachelet) told me: 'Look, I had the same intention too, but a series of circumstances emerged later on that prevented me from voting that way and I had to refrain from voting."
Ultimately, Chile did not support Venezuela’s campaign and Panama was elected to the UNSC after much debate and haggling by Venezuela and the U.S.
Links- El Universal, CNN, People’s Daily Online, The Latin Americanist
Image- Mercopress
Erwin, perhaps inadvertantly on your part, the post sounds as if Panama defeated Venezuela for the Security Council seat. In fact, the deadlock between Venezuela and U.S. proxy Guatemala was broken when Panama emerged as a consensus candidate.
ReplyDeleteIf I am remembering correctly, Chile did not support either of the original candidates during the voting.
I thought that I avoided such a misunderstanding by saying at the very end that Panama won the UNSC seat after much debate by Venezuela and the U.S. (in favor of Guatemala).
ReplyDeleteAside from that you're absolutely right in that Panama was a compromise candidate after neither Venezuela or Gutemala gained a minimum 2/3 approval by the General Assembly after nearly 50 rounds of voting.
And yes, Chile abstained from voting which was seen as a snub by both the U.S. and venezuela. Certainly a gutsy decision by Bachelet.