What Venezuela's Security Council Seat Means for the U.S.

In an election sure to be a thorn in the side of the U.S., Venezuela on Thursday won the non-permanent member seat on the U.N. Security Council for the Latin American region. The country, which has had frosty relations with the U.S., is unlikely to be an ally on key issues involving Syria, Iran and Russia in a time of global turmoil.

Socialist Venezuela traditionally has opposed U.S. and Western positions on international issues. Jason Marczak, deputy director of the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center at the Atlantic Council, says the country’s presence on the council will mean a vote against the American position on nearly every topic.

“Whatever global issue you can think of that the U.S. would have an opinion on, I think Venezuela is going to take an opposing viewpoint,” Marczak says.

Relations with former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013 of cancer, were strained, and things have not improved under Nicolas Maduro. In February, the current president expelled three American officials, charging that they had recruited students to take part in protests that were spreading across the country. Citizens were dissatisfied over shortages of goods, high inflation, growing crime and increased censorship of the media, but Maduro has continually accused the U.S. of supporting an opposition he's said is planning a coup. Forty-three people were killed in the violence over three months.

Venezuela is likely to be an ally of permanent Security Council member Russia as that country continues to foment dissent in neighboring Ukraine. In March, Venezuela was one of just 10 (other than Russia) countries to vote against a U.N. resolution that recognized Crimea as falling within Ukrainian borders.

The Latin American country is also likely to oppose any attempted Security Council action against Iran, another ally. The U.S. and five other world powers are engaged in nuclear negotiations with Iran, but additional sanctions against the country could be pursued in the Security Council should the negotiations fail. Maduro also has been a vocal opponent of Syrian President Bashar Assad, whom the U.S. has long wanted to step down.

Venezuela ran unopposed for the seat to represent Latin America, in line with a closed-door agreement to allow the spot to rotate among countries in the region. Chavez sought a seat in 2006, but the U.S. opposed the campaign and succeeded in shutting it down.

This time, the U.S. was silent on Maduro’s bid, which Marczak attributes in part to so many other world crises requiring attention. It also downplays the significance of the winning bid.

“The approach of the U.S. to Venezuela joining the Security Council is to not give Maduro an opportunity to further play up this as a diplomatic success at home,” Marczak says. “The way he’d be able to do that is by showing the opposition of the U.S. and his ability to overcome the U.S. opposition, and by the U.S. being quiet, it’s much less of a diplomatic victory for Maduro.”

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, D-Fla., said that due to Venezuelan support of “state sponsors of terrorism like Iran, North Korea and Syria,” the U.S. should have actively tried to stop the country's bid for a Security Council seat. Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle called on Secretary of State John Kerry to oppose Venezuela's effort.

-us news