Venezuela, Cuba likely to get U.N. spots

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is battling to stop Venezuela and Cuba from gaining seats in important U.N. posts in a confrontation that has many Latin American nations caught in the middle, diplomats and analysts say.

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The first showdown will take place May 9, when the 191-member U.N. General Assembly votes for 47 members of a new Human Rights Council. Eleven Latin American nations, including Venezuela and Cuba, are vying for eight spots reserved for the region.

Venezuela also wants to replace Argentina as one of the two Latin American members on the 15-seat Security Council. That election, to a two-year term, is expected in October.

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Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has personally appealed to countries not to vote for Venezuela, and Washington is making it clear it doesn't want Cuba or Venezuela in either U.N. agency.

''It's about ensuring that these organs in the U.N. are effective in upholding the principles of the U.N., and the membership is key,'' said Ben Chang, a spokesman for the U.S. mission before the United Nations.

http://www.thatsracin.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/americas/14373707.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

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will surely be in mortal danger throughout its term. Right-wing Cuban "exiles" murdered Cuban U.N. ambassador Felix Garcia Rodriguez at a stop light on the 6th anniversary of the founding of one of their terrorist groups, Omega 7.

They also killed Chilean ambassador, Orlando Letellier, who was friendly to Cuba, with a car bomb, as well as his aide, Ronnie Moffit, and injured her husband, on the streets of Washington, D.C., in broad daylight.

The following was written in the N.Y. Times following a speech at the U.N. by Che Guevara:

The New York Times
December 12, 1964, page 1
Bazooka Fired at U.N. as Cuban Speaks

Launched in Queens, Missile Explodes in East River

By Homer Bigart

United Nations Headquarters was fired upon yesterday with a 3.5-inch bazooka from across the East River. The attack coincided with a demonstration by anti-Communist Cubans at the front entrance against the presence of Maj. Ernesto Che Guevara of Cuba.

A single shell from the bazooka, a portable rocket launcher used by the Army, arced across the river from Queens and feel harmlessly about 200 yards from the shore. The blast sent up a geyser of water and rattled windows in the headquarters just as Major Guevara, Havana's Minister of Industry, was denouncing the United States.

Shortly before, a hysterical woman brandishing a hunting knife with a seven-inch blade detached herself from 50 anti-Guevara pickets and tried to force her way into the front entrance. The police subdued the leather-jacketed woman, and later quoted her as saying she intended to assassinate Major Guevara.

In the sealed-off General Assembly Hall, the blast was clearly heard over the voice of Major Guevara, who was assailing United States foreign policy and rejecting a denuclearization pact for the Western Hemisphere.

He paused not a moment in his speech. Later, strolling through the delegates' lounge in his green fatigue uniform and highly polished black boots, he said, with a languid wave of his cigar, that the explosion "has given the whole thing more flavor."
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http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/belligerence/bazooka.htm

(They learned later that the bazooka-happy terrorist was Orlando Bosch, who also shot a Polish freighter which was on its way to Cuba. He used old amunition, which resulted in a clang as it hit the ship, without much damage. Not one to rest on his laurels, he and co-bomber Luis Posada Carriles arranged to bomb a Cubana airliner and killed all 73 people, including many teenagers, the Cuban fencing team, and medical students from Guyana on board. It was the first ever bombing of an airliner in flight.)

''It's about ensuring that these organs in the U.N. are effective in upholding the principles of the U.N., and the membership is key,'' said Ben Chang, a spokesman for the U.S. mission before the United Nations.

The mendacity of this man! The US is the biggest violator of an international charter since Imperial Japan stormed out of the League of Nations after invading China, and he is complaining about Venezuela!