Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez is losing his UN Security Council bid badly. Now Chile has come out and said it won’t vote for him, but will abstain through the first round. Socialist Chile was one Chavez insisted he had in the bag. Well, he no longer does. The UN goes to the vote tomorrow and will have the results around 12:00 p.m. Eastern, so this contest for the fate of the free world’s democracies versus the world’s worst tyrannies won’t be long.

Venezuela Today is up again and has the whole roundup here.

UPDATE: As the vote goes on, Fox News is reporting that Guatemala has taken a commanding lead against Venezuela! Go, Guatemala!

UPDATE: Fausta’s got a must-read roundup of all the news out there on this, in this post here.

Hat tip: Pajamas Media

UPDATE: Daniel at Venezuela News & Views has splendid, withering, commentary. Read it here.

UPDATE: Mexico is emerging as a third-party compromise candidate. Fausta’s got the best coverage here.

UPDATE: UN source just gave me the lowdown. The seventh round score is 96 Guatemala, 89 Venezuela, 1 Cuba, 1 Mexico.

UPDATE: Same source tells me Mexico and Cuba are out as compromise candidates, the eighth round score is 102 Guatemala, 85 Venezuela, 5 abstentions, 125 needed to win – heading into the 9th round.

UPDATE: Tenth round, 110-Guatemala, 77 Venezuela. Hot Air has the scoop here. Voting restarts tomorrow at 10 a.m. Eastern.

UPDATE: Manuel Rosales, the skillful, adept politician who’s gaining on Hugo Chavez in December’s presidential election, is making big hay out of this issue, saying the world has delivered a democratic whipping to Hugo Chavez. Yeah! Alek Boyd at VCrisis has that – and a photoessay – here.

UPDATE: Investor’s Business Daily has a lead editorial on the utter disgustingness of the idea of Hugo Chavez in the Security Council at all and cautiously seems pleased that he’s not gonna make it. Read it here.

UPDATE: Miguel Octavio at Devil’s Excrement has fished up some rare footage of Chavez’s own UN ambassador, the one who’s trolling for votes on Hugo Chavez, calling his master “a sicko,” “a bandit,” and an “assassin.” Hugo sure does know how to pick ’em. See the whole disgraceful mini-movie of Hugo’s Man At The UN giving his real opinion of Hugo Chavez here.

TUESDAY UPDATE:

UPDATE: Guatemala is gaining, it’s got 112 votes now, vs Chavez’s 75. There are still 5 abstentions and I think it takes 125 to win. VenezuelaToday has the update here.

UPDATE: This map by Daniel Duquenal at Venezuela News & Views is excellent and so is his long analysis, the only one out there that’s written, and full of excellent original insights. Check it out here.

UPDATE: Via Venezuela Today, check out these images from Getty showing what’s going on on the Security Council floor, it’s very interesting.

UPDATE: 14th round: The score: Guatemala, 108; Venezuela 76; Abstentions 7. VenezuelaToday has the rest here.

UPDATE: Check out Miguel’s new analysis on this race – he points out that tiny Guatemala can’t even afford embassies in Africa and Asia while Hugo Chavez flings Venezuela’s money all over the place to buy votes. Yet Guatemala is ahead. He’s got a lot more background on this amazing contrast in this post here.

UPDATE: Blue Crab at Blue Crab Boulevard has an excellent roundup about this from sources I haven’t cited. It’s a must-read, here.

UPDATE: Venezuela Today reports Round 15, showing Guatemala 107, Venezuela 78, Abstentions 7.

UPDATE: Round 21, Guatemala 102, Chavez 77, Abstentions 12. Oh man. Venezuela Today has the rest here.

Here is its quote from the Venezuelan delegation:

“Ch????vez issued an order and we are going to execute it… Ch????vez said ‘knees on the ground…’ and that means coming out with our bayonets swinging….”
???????? UN Ambassador Francisco Arias C????rdenas

UPDATE: Boz at Bloggings by Boz has a great tidbit about Chavista cronies distributing blue silk party favor bags full of expensive chocolates (Venezuela exports a small amount of chocolate, but not like this fancy kind in silk bags it distributed. Mainly, it has driven its chocolate industry into the ground) while poor Guatemalans pass out little bags full of ethnic trinkets. Read the whole thing here.

UPDATE: StJacques at Free Republic has translated an El Universal article and I’m reposting it below. Be sure to see his commentary on it at Free Republic, here:

6:44 p.m. Ambassador Cardenas approves suspension of voting for the Security Council

Caracas. — Venezuela’s Ambassador before the United Nations, Francisco Arias Cardenas, reiterated that the decision was taken to supsend voting for the Security Council for 24 hours, so that necessary consultations could be made.

“This has to be part of the advances which our own organization must make in full freedom at the hour of our choosing, therefore we cannot turn down under any circumstances the offer the presidency has made. We accept and approve it.”

He assured everyone that it is normal that one cannot conclude the voting between two countries. “What I do not know is whether it is normal to have the planet’s most powerful nation and its allies, traveling and pressuring Äother nationsÅ.”

“The logical thing would have been that the campaign was between two brother countries who cannot come to an agreement … We have had to constantly explain the falsehoods, the aggressions, and the lies which the spokesmen for the United States have said.”

Cardenas considers that, after the 24 hour delay for consultation, a new road will be opened. “The owners of money and power have to understand that they cannot impose things without risk, but that they need to engage in dialog and to respect other peoples.”