Scoop Q With MFAT Re: UNSC Latin America Seat
By Alastair Thompson
An intense contest is underway at the United Nations General Assembly over who will get the next Latin American seat on
the United Nations Security Council. According to reports the level of votes for the two candidates Guatemala and
Venezuela are fairly evenly split.
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez recently made a big splash in the General Assembly in a speech in which he likened US
President George Bush to "El Diablo" (the devil).
It would be fair to assume then that the United States is doing its level best to back Guatemala for the seat.
Scoop ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on which side of the divide New Zealand was presently sitting.
SCOOP: Is NZ voting for Guatemala or Venezuela for the United Nations Security Council, and why have we chosen to support that
candidate?
MFAT RESPONSE: Elections to the UNSC are secret and members' voting decisions are not normally made public. As the voting is still
underway we would not in any case make our voting position public.
SCOOP: Did either of them vote for NZ when we last stood for the UN Security Council?
MFAT RESPONSE: We don't really know. Elections to the UNSC are secret so we can't be sure how both countries voted when we last stood.
So there we have it. Clear as mud.
ENDS