Cablegate: Media Reaction - Venezuela's Unsc Candidacy

VZCZCXYZ0007
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSG #1732 2261807
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 141807Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9798
INFO RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 1036

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 001732

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR IIP/G/WHA, INR/R/MR, WHA/BSC, WHA/PDA, INR/IAA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO PGOV VE CI
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION - VENEZUELA'S UNSC CANDIDACY

On August 11, conservative, afternoon daily "La Segunda" (circ
31,834) ran a column by former Chilean Foreign Affairs Minister
Ignacio Walker entitled, "Chavez and the United Nations." Block
quote follows:

"Does it help our national interests to support a country that will
spend two years on the Security Council ...that denounces
imperialism (the United States) and has allies such as Byelorussia,
Iran, Cuba, and North Korea? Will Venezuela create a more complex
and divided environment worldwide than the one we already have?....
Based on the answer to these questions and concerns, most European
countries, almost all of Central America, Mexico, and Australia,
among others, have already announced they will not vote for
Venezuela. And although for Chile this is a no-win situation, even
if it chooses to abstain, the above questions are inevitable when it
comes time to make a decision on how to vote."

KELLY

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