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Objective achieved, says Hugo Chavez

CARACAS: President Hugo Chavez has said Venezuela had achieved its objective within the United Nations by preventing Washington's preferred candidate from winning a seat on the U.N. Security Council.

Venezuela is trailing Guatemala after 35 rounds of secret balloting in which both countries have failed to garner the two-thirds majority required to win the seat.

But despite falling behind Guatemala in the race for the contested seat on the Security Council, Caracas has successfully challenged U.S. interests, Mr. Chavez said.

``We have taught the empire a lesson,'' Mr. Chavez told thousands of supporters in Valencia, an industrial city 110 km west of Caracas. Even if ``Venezuela isn't able to enter the Security Council, we've done damage to the empire. That was our objective.''

The U.N. General Assembly is slated to resume voting on Wednesday.

Guatemala has led Venezuela in 34 of 35 of the votes by the 192-nation General Assembly.

Mr. Chavez says his country will not withdraw, vowing to continue confronting the United States. — AP

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