At the United Nations, the Bush administration pressed on Thursday with its campaign to prevent Venezuela from securing an open seat on the Security Council. Under UN rules, Latin American governments are entitled to pick a country from the region to fill the rotating seat that comes open next year. Brazil, Argentina, Cuba, Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay and several Caribbean nations have already backed Venezuela. The U.S. is lobbying for Guatemala to get the seat.

• UN Ambassador John Bolton: “Our view is that Venezuela would not be a constructive member of the Security Council. We’ve made that clear in a number of diplomatic efforts and that that’s our position which I think we’ve expressed quite strongly and quite clearly.”