Panama in line for seat at U.N.

UNITED NATIONS —  Ending a two-week-long standoff, Venezuela and Guatemala bowed out of the race for a U.N. Security Council seat Wednesday and chose Panama as a compromise candidate.

The contest for a seat for Latin America and the Caribbean had become a protracted battle between Guatemala, backed by the United States, and Venezuela, which portrayed itself as a challenger to U.S. dominance at the United Nations. Guatemala led in all but one of the 47 rounds of voting but was not able to clinch the two-thirds majority needed to win the seat. On Wednesday evening, foreign ministers from Venezuela and Guatemala met in New York to resolve the deadlock.

“We needed about 15 more votes, and we were not clear where we would get them,” said Guatemalan Foreign Minister Gert Rosenthal. “There were two options: to continue, or to bow to reality. We opted for the latter.”

Rosenthal said that he was “personally very disappointed” that Guatemala was not able to claim the seat despite having the majority of support, but that both countries agreed that Panama was a good compromise.

“It’s a country where South America meets Central America. We want to put divisions between the north and the south to rest, and so choosing Panama makes sense,” he said.

Venezuela, which supplies subsidized oil to many countries in the region, was thought to be the front-runner until President Hugo Chavez made a speech to the General Assembly in September, calling President Bush “the devil” and describing the U.N. as “useless.”

Despite the applause the Venezuelan leader received that day, many diplomats said that having Venezuela as a contrarian member of the Security Council would not help solve serious problems such as the North Korean and Iranian nuclear programs and continuing violence in Sudan. Venezuela is a close ally of Iran and North Korea, diplomats said.

maggie.farley@latimes.com