Venezuela Wins Seat on UN Human Rights Council

United Nations: Venezuela won a seat Thursday on the UN Human Rights Council despite criticism from advocacy groups and fellow Latin American countries that its own rights record is appalling.

To applause in the chamber, Venezuela got the nod in a vote by the UN General Assembly to choose 14 new members for the 47-member body based in Geneva.

The council works to promote and protect human rights around the world. Its members are elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis.

Two of eight seats allotted for Latin America were up for grabs Thursday and Brazil took one after winning the most votes.

Earlier this month, Costa Rica jumped into the running with the specific goal of denying Venezuela a seat, but it lost out on Thursday. In the end, Brazil got 153 votes, Venezuela 105 and Costa Rica, 96.

The Leftist government of President Nicolas Maduro has been accused of jailing opposition leaders and arbitrary arrests as it struggles to hold on to power.

More than 50 countries have switched their recognition to the national assembly speaker Juan Guaido as the country's acting president.

But Maduro still has strong support at the UN, from Russia and China in particular.

In Caracas, Attorney General Tarek William Saab hailed the vote as a "major achievement" and announced the release of 24 detained opposition figures.

Late last month the council created a group of experts to investigate human rights violations in Venezuela since 2014. The Caracas government called this a hostile act.

"There is certainly no precedent for Latin American countries to challenge one of their neighbours for a seat on a multilateral body in such a direct provocative way," Christopher Sabatini, who teaches international and public policy at Columbia University, said in the runup to the vote on Thursday.