Venezuela's Chavez seeks a global leadership role

BOGOTA, Colombia — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's blistering attack on President Bush at the United Nations this past week marked a striking crescendo in a campaign to project Venezuela as a country with the global reach to counter American initiatives.

Swimming in wealth from an oil bonanza, Venezuela has bestowed billions of dollars in aid and preferential deals across Latin America, burnishing Chavez's image as heir apparent to President Fidel Castro of Cuba, his mentor and close friend.

But in recent months, Chavez has been traveling the world — not just seeking the economic deals his internationalist government has always wanted, but also pressing for influence in affairs far from Latin America, political analysts say. His immediate goal is to obtain enough backing to secure a two-year spot on the 15-member U.N. Security Council, a campaign the Bush administration is vigorously opposing by backing tiny Guatemala for the seat. But his long-term goal appears to be more far-reaching.

"Venezuela was too small for him; now I think Latin America is too small for him," said Michael Shifter, an analyst at the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington policy group. "He wants to be a global leader who can shape the international agenda. This is sort of a shift to being involved in decision-making on very sensitive international and political affairs."

In one of the most derisive and caustic speeches in U.N. history, the Venezuelan leader on Wednesday labeled Bush "the devil" and "dear world dictator," leading to sustained applause at the General Assembly. On Thursday, speaking to the congregants of a church in Harlem, he called Bush an alcoholic and a sick man, "but very dangerous because he has lots of power."

Since July, Chavez's feverish travel schedule has taken him to Iran, Syria, Russia, China, Vietnam, Belarus and other nations whose governments are often on less than favorable terms with the United States.

He has come away with support for his bid to gain the Security Council seat next month — among his backers are Russia and China, who hold permanent council seats — and solidified alliances against the Bush administration. Chavez has railed against American efforts to neutralize Iran's nuclear efforts and the administration's support of Israel in its invasion of Lebanon.

Obtaining a Security Council seat would further empower Chavez. "This is why he's putting on the full-court press for the Security Council," said Riordan Roett, director of Latin American studies at Johns Hopkins University. "He sees this as a launching pad for Venezuela on the U.N. stage, which is a global stage. And there's no question that he would use the U.N. as a personal hobbyhorse to harass the White House."