Latin rivals to drop U.N. Security Council bid

Venezuela and Guatemala have agreed in principle to end their deadlocked contest for a seat on the U.N. Security Council, but they differ on an alternative candidate, diplomats said.

After six ballots Wednesday, 41 in total since last week, Guatemala received 100 to 109 votes in each round compared with Venezuela’s 72 to 84 votes. But a nation must get a two-thirds majority in the 192-member General Assembly to win the Security Council seat.

The next round of voting is scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Venezuelan and Guatemalan foreign ministers meet in New York today to try to agree on a candidate for the seat, one of two earmarked for Latin America and the Caribbean on the 15-nation council.

“They accept in principle that they will withdraw their candidacies. But they are not set on a third country,” Brazilian Ambassador Ronaldo Mota Sardenberg told reporters.

Guatemala and Venezuela were vying for a two-year seat on the Security Council that Argentina will vacate Dec. 31. Peru, which holds the other seat, stays on the council until the end of 2007. The United States backed Guatemala.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his ally Bolivia would be a good compromise.

“I and the people of Venezuela would feel worthily represented by comrade [President] Evo Morales and the people of Bolivia, who are a brother nation,” Chavez told a women’s meeting in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.

But Guatemalan Foreign Minister Gert Rosenthal has made clear that Bolivia is unacceptable.

Other nations mentioned for the seat have included Uruguay, Paraguay, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic.

Latin American diplomats said the question of a third candidate should be left to Guatemala and Venezuela.