MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chavez claims victory of sorts at U.N.

President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that Venezuela achieved its objective at 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.

Despite falling behind Guatemala in the race for contested seat, Caracas has successfully challenged U.S. interests, Chavez said.

"We have taught the empire a lesson," Chavez told thousands of supporters in Valencia, an industrial city about 65 miles 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. Chavez says his country will not withdraw, vowing to continue confronting the U.S.

"Venezuela is not going to give up," Chavez said.

The nomination of a third candidate to break the stalemate has been informally discussed, but both candidates would have to step down. Guatemala has also pledged to remain in the race.

Chavez ? a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro ? has promised to use a seat on the council as a platform to speak out against the U.S.

Chavez has claimed that the U.S. has tried to coerce nations into voting for Guatemala.

In recent months, Chavez collected pledges of support as he visited about a dozen countries including Russia, Belarus, Iran, Vietnam, Qatar, Mali, Benin, China, Malaysia and Syria. Top Guatemalan officials and U.S. diplomats also have been busy with their own international lobbying efforts.

Venezuelan opposition leaders accuse Chavez of squandering millions of dollars in an effort to garner international backing for Venezuela's bid, saying he has neglected domestic problems such as rampant crime and widespread poverty.

The critics accuse Chavez of offering cheap, subsidized oil to other countries to influence their U.N. vote, a charge that the Venezuelan leader has denied.

The 10 non-permanent seats on the council are filled by the regional groups for two-year stretches. The other five are occupied by the veto-wielding permanent members: Britain, China, France, Russia and the U.S.

The United States claims that Chavez, whose left-leaning government also has friendly ties with North Korea and Iran, would be a disruptive force on the Security Council