'Devil is on the loose', Chavez says for Bush

Chavez claims he holds the US president by the tail, despite Venezuela's failure to capture a UNSC seat last week.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has claimed he holds US President George W Bush by the tail, despite Venezuela's failure to capture a UN Security Council seat last week against US opposition.

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"The devil is on the loose and at the United Nations, we have him by the tail," Chavez told a women's group in the city of Valencia on Sunday.

Venezuela battled last week with Guatemala for an empty seat on the Security Council, a contest that neither won and will likely continue on Wednesday.

The United States lobbied other delegations hard in favor of Guatemala, which was nonetheless unable to win the necessary two-thirds majority in 35 rounds of voting.

"What some have tried to call a defeat for Venezuela was heard around the world as something never done before: a country like Venezuela standing head to head with the most powerful empire in the world and halting it," Chavez said.

"This week, the battle will continue before the United Nations General Assembly ... The damage to the empire is already done; that was our objective. As they say, that is something that can never be taken away."

In September Chavez addressed the UN General Assembly and called Bush "the devil", claiming the US president wants to oust him.