MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Venezuela celebrates Security Council seas as “a victory of Hugo Chavez”

”This is the victory of Hugo Chavez. He keeps winning battles in the world (...) It's a day in which the world has supported our fatherland,” said Maduro

Venezuela celebrated on Thursday as a great diplomatic success “and a victory of Hugo Chavez”, having been voted by the UN General Assembly to join the Security Council for two years as a non permanent member.

Venezuela last tried to join the 15-member council in 2006, but failed to win the required two-thirds support of the General Assembly during dozens of rounds of voting after the United States successfully campaigned against its bid. Washington did not stand in the way of Venezuela's bid this time.

”This is the victory of Hugo Chavez Frias. Chavez keeps winning battles in the world (...) It's a day in which the world has supported our fatherland,“ Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said minutes after the vote in a nationally televised address.

The US campaign against Venezuela's 2006 bid came after the late populist leader Chavez compared former US President George W. Bush to the devil, saying on the podium of the 2006 UN General Assembly that he could still ”smell sulfur“ a day after Bush addressed member states.

Venezuela will likely use the council seat as a platform to aggressively back allies such as Syria and Russia in their diplomatic wrangling with the United States, part of its broader effort to continue the anti-Washington foreign policy of Chavez.

It has even named the Chavez's daughter, Maria Gabriela Chavez, as its deputy ambassador to the United Nations.

The Mercosur member of 29 million has consistently opposed US diplomatic initiatives. It backed Russia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, which was formerly part of Ukraine, and it provided fuel to Syria amid its battle against insurgents. Venezuela has also built up cooperative ties with Iran despite strict sanctions imposed by Western nations.

Ten countries abstained in the secret General Assembly ballot to elect Venezuela.

”The Latin American and Caribbean countries have done a great disservice to the cause of international peace as well as helping a rogue military-civilian dictatorship gain a world stage,” said Venezuelan opposition figure Diego Aria, who was the country's UN ambassador in the early 1990s.