Venezuela Secures Two-Year Term on UN Security Council

EspañolVenezuela has secured its seat as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council after a vote held on Thursday.

The South American country joined the Security Council with 181 votes in its favor, 10 abstentions, and one null vote. Venezuela, who needed 122 votes to join the body, will replace Argentina, whose term on the council ends on December 31, 2014.

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“Today was a major victory in the United Nations for our country. I give thanks, in the name of our people, to the 181 countries that supported us in our campaign to join the Security Council,” said President Nicolás Maduro.

Maduro believes the vote represents “the support of the world” for Venezuela. “Venezuela is a highly admired country in the world… this is Hugo Chávez’s victory,” he said.

“This emphatic triumph was achieved despite the continuous campaign to discredit our country and our institutions,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs Rafael Ramírez, celebrating the result of the vote from New York.

“This overwhelming victory is the result of El Comandante Hugo Chávez Frías’s decision, when in January 2007, he chose to have Venezuela apply as a candidate for the Security Council. This is evidence of the continuous global support for Venezuela’s message of peace, solidarity, and justice. We dedicate this triumph to El Comandante Chávez.”

Venezuela’s admittance to the Security Council comes only weeks after the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions, a group linked to the UN Human Rights Council, released a report demanding the release of opposition leader Leopoldo López.

López remains in the custody of Venezuelan authorities, alongside dozens of other political prisoners since February of this year.

Rolando Adjovi, one of the five members of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions, explained that the Venezuelan government should “comply with the opinion” of the group to release López. “The government has no choice, this is practically an order,” said Adjovi.

According to the UN Charter, the Security Council will determine every “threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression and may recommend, or decide what measures to take, whether economic, political, or use of force, to maintain or restore international peace and security.”

Sources: El Universal, Infobae.