A two-thirds voting majority is necessary to secure the seat

Papers in Guatemala and Venezuela assess the stalemate at the United Nations between their countries, both of which are seeking a rotating seat at the Security Council but have failed to secure the necessary two-thirds majority in two days of voting.

Guatemalan papers say it is unfair that their country is being portrayed as a US "puppet" in the affair.

Papers in Venezuela say that despite US pressure, their country remains in the running for the seat. Some are critical of President Hugo Chavez's diplomatic efforts in the run-up to voting.

Guatemala has acted with respect towards Venezuela... The Guatemalan candidacy was proposed by [Gert] Rosenthal [Guatemala's UN ambassador] four years ago, when the dispute between Chavez and US President George Bush had not reached its current extremes. It should be recognised that Guatemala has developed a foreign policy which is friendly to, but equidistant from, the USA. So, it is unjustifiable that they say in some UN diplomatic circles that our country is acting as a "puppet of Uncle Sam".

The important thing to point out, and what the international community should understand, is that Guatemala did not stand as a candidate to stop Chavez, but that Venezuela altered the Latin American consensus by challenging the Guatemalan candidacy which was, originally, completely independent.

Guatemala was eight votes shy of being elected, and Hugo Chavez was quick to point out that his battle is with the United States, not Guatemala... If Guatemala is not elected, it will be the only founding member of the UN that has not sat on the Security Council, this for reasons having to do with the country's domestic situation for many years.

Venezuela was considered the favourite to take a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council, according to an opinion poll carried out by international news agencies, but diplomatic errors also have their price. President Chavez toured the world in search of these anxiously awaited 128 votes which never arrived and he paid a high price for them. The government said they had created a large consensus, which was never enough to get into the Security Council.

The persistence of the Venezuelan and Guatemalan candidacies for the non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council has aroused passions and agitated more than one member. The seat was vacated by Argentina on 31 December and neither Venezuela nor Guatemala have admitted defeat. Both propose to take up the seat.

In the new votes yesterday in the UN, the USA could not beat Venezuela. In spite of using all the pressures of a great power, Venezuela kept between 77 and 80 votes.

BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.