US Sweats Over Chávez Decision at Un

It will be either elation or disappointment today for Hugo Chávez, Venezuela's flamboyant president, as he finds out whether his country has won a seat on the UN security council.

Venezuela is up against Guatemala to replace Argentina as one of the 10 non-permanent members on the council. While power resides with the permanent five members, the contest between Venezuela and Guatemala is seen as a barometer of Washington's influence in the international organisation.

Mr Chávez has campaigned actively for a seat at the top diplomatic table, providing Venezuela with a forum from which to snipe at the Bush administration. The US has backed Guatemala, with the US ambassador, John Bolton, making the American position clear.

"In 1990 and 1991, when Cuba was on the security council, it was extremely unhelpful and uncooperative at a time of great pressure,"' Mr Bolton said in June, in reference to Cuba's vote against authorisation of the first gulf war.

His critics at home say Mr Chávez, who is up for re-election in December, has campaigned too energetically for a security council place, neglecting domestic problems.

The Venezuelan president been globetrotting, visiting Russia, Belarus, Iran, Vietnam, Qatar, Mali, Benin, China, Malaysia and Syria to garner support as well as to dole out money. There has been financial help for a struggling hospital in Uruguay, $260m (£134m) in financing to repave a Jamaican highway and $17m to upgrade airports on the Caribbean islands of Antigua and Dominica.

Opposition leaders at home have accused Mr Chávez of wasting money and time instead of concentrating on domestic problems such as crime and poverty.

Venezuela and Guatemala both claim to have a majority of votes in the 192-member general assembly. If neither side musters the two-thirds majority, the 33-nation Latin American group could choose another candidate, dealing a blow to Mr Chávez's reputation.

The security council has 15 seats, consisting of five permanent members with veto power - the US, Russia, China, Britain and France - and 10 nations serving two-year terms, five of them elected each year.

The uncontested European seats will be filled by Belgium and Italy, who replace Denmark and Greece next year, while South Africa replaces Tanzania. In the Asian Group, Indonesia and Nepal are vying for the seat vacated by Japan, with Jakarta expected to win.

The Venezuela-Guatemala fight is the only hotly contested race. The two are vying for the Latin American seat vacated by Argentina, while Peru stays until the end of 2007, along with the Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Qatar and Slovakia.

"This is a real wrestling match. This is a heavy-weight encounter," Larry Birns, director of the Washington-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs, told Reuters.

"If they vote with their head they're voting against Venezuela because the US is certainly going to make this an anti-Venezuela position.

"If they vote with their heart they are basically saying 'we're tired of being pushed around by Washington and we're just going to go our own way on this'."