Chavez's anti-US voice rings hollow in UN vote

CARACAS, Venezuela, Oct 20 (Reuters) When President Hugo Chavez called US President George W Bush the devil at the United Nations he earned ovations, but most nations rejected his unglossed anti-Americanism this week by frustrating his bid for a Venezuelan seat on the Security Council.

The leftist cast the election for one of Latin America's rotating two-year council seats as between Venezuela and the United States, which lobbied openly for Guatemala.

But Chavez, who had hoped to use the seat to be a leading anti-US voice on the world stage, failed to win in any of the 35 voting rounds at the General Assembly and trailed the tiny Central American nation by a margin of 20 to 30 ballots.

Although Guatemala did not secure the two-thirds support needed for the seat either, diplomats say it is unlikely Venezuela can win when voting to break the impasse is due to resume next week.

The drawn-out defeat in Chavez's top 2006 foreign policy goal came despite months of canvassing for votes with foreign trips, subsidized oil sales from Venezuela's large reserves and pledges to spearhead a global anti-US alliance.

The voting showed there was little appetite around the world for following Chavez, even if Washington has irked many nations with the sort of aggressive diplomacy it used seeking support for its unpopular invasion of Iraq.

The losses also followed a disappointing second-place showing by Chavez's leftist ally in Ecuador's presidential election on Sunday that exposed the limits on his ambition to export his anti-Americanism in the region.

Ecuadorean candidate Rafael Correa, who faces a run-off ballot next month, has since distanced himself from Chavez, reassuring voters he would block the Venezuelan leader from interfering in his presidency.

Chavez, who likens his opposition to US trade, energy and foreign policies to Cuban President Fidel Castro's defiance of Washington, put a brave face on the UN results, claiming a ''moral'' victory for standing up to the world's only superpower.

But with oil prices falling, a tougher-than-expected re-election bid looming in December and a faltering foreign policy, the man who is used to crowds treating him like a Messiah did not show his typical confidence this week.

He generally hunkered down during the days of voting and canceled most planned political rallies.

A SPEECH TOO FAR In his UN General Assembly speech last month, Chavez told the audience of heads of state, ambassadors and world dignitaries that the chamber still reeked of sulfur after Bush spoke there a day earlier.

While he drew applause and laughter, he displayed a rhetoric that contrasts with diplomatic Latin American heavyweights such as Brazil and Mexico that generally take independent stances but avoid conflicts.

''As much as there might be anti-Americanism around, other governments do not see him as a leader,'' said Michael Shifter of the Washington-based think tank the Inter-American Dialogue.

''This shows that style and language do matter -- and he went too far.'' Chavez will undoubtedly keep up his anti-American harangues and has shown in the past he can rebound from losses, such as returning to power only days after a coup in 2002.

But losing to Guatemala limits his international profile and could hurt his prestige at home.

The opposition, which has accused him of focusing on burnishing his image abroad instead of tackling issues such as crime at home, said the UN vote showed he was out of touch.

''It is an embarrassing condemnation of the Cuban-Castro model that he has been promoting,'' election rival Manuel Rosales said.

REUTERS AB RAI0125