Latin American nations sided with Venezuela over the United States in a meeting of the Organization of American States (oas) General Assembly last week. They elected a Venezuelan representative to a human rights commission, ignoring human rights violations by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s government, despite the efforts of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to secure a different vote.

This year, four commission seats must be filled on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Venezuela’s seat was one of the four.

In the run-up to the vote, the U.S. fought hard for its agenda, in opposition to Venezuela. Clearly, it didn’t work.

The previous Venezuelan commissioner, Freddy Gutiérrez, has come under fire from human rights groups for acting on Chavez’s behalf; commissioners are supposed to act autonomously and are explicitly barred from dealing with anything that directly impacts their home nation. Given Venezuela’s questionable human rights record and President Chavez’s personal hatred for U.S. leadership, Secretary Rice was eager to promote a Bolivian representative for the vacancy.

The mostly hotly debated item that came up concerned a specific issue in Venezuela that the U.S. condemned as a violation of free press.

The oldest and most popular private tv station in Venezuela, rctv, was denied a broadcasting license by Chavez’s government, and on May 27 it went off the air. President Chavez accused the channel of opposing him during a 2002 coup and violating broadcasting laws. Polls show that 78 to 83 percent of the Venezuelan people disagree with the decision, and thousands of protestors have taken to the streets, flying the Venezuelan flag upside down and chanting, “We want freedom!”

The sole remaining major opposition tv channel is only available in part of Venezuela. In an attempt to stay alive, rctv has turned to satellite, cable and YouTube, hoping to keep itself alive and relevant while it tries to overturn Chavez’s decision through the court system—not likely in Venezuela.

Secretary Rice asked the oas to investigate the closure of the station as a human rights violation. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro replied with a request for the commission to investigate human rights violations at Guantanamo Bay, comparing the facility to Nazi Germany.

Secretary Rice walked out.

oas Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza dismissed the issues surrounding the tv station’s closure, saying: “I think the worst way to establish dialogue is to single out countries and make one country the focus of discussion on that matter. I do not think it is practical,” and that the group is “not an instrument for singularization or pressure.”

The next day, the votes were cast for the new commission seats, and Venezuelan candidate Luz Patricia Mejía won a seat. The Latin American representatives had clearly chosen to side with Venezuela over the U.S.

But why? A senior U.S. diplomat provided a plausible explanation: He said the vote came as a result of Venezuela providing preferential financing terms for oil purchases to poor oas members.

So in one week, President Chavez bought a commission seat, ensured his opposition would not have access to free press, and embarrassed the U.S. secretary of state. He called the meeting “a great defeat for the empire.”

In contrast, Secretary of State Rice failed to secure a commission seat for Bolivia, was insulted repeatedly by the Venezuelan president and foreign minister, and was told that a human rights commission doesn’t pursue specific human rights violations.

The U.S. relationship with Latin American countries is important: The United States imports more oil from Latin America than all Middle Eastern nations combined. But the trend in recent years has been a growing anti-U.S. sentiment, led by President Chavez, Bolivian President Evo Morales (who campaigned on the slogan “Long live coca, death to the Yankees”), and the U.S.’s oldest enemy, Cuban President Fidel Castro. Shutting down free speech may not have been popular with Venezuelans, but it seems not to have hurt Chavez’s popularity with other Latin American countries.

Latin America does need the revenue it currently receives from the United States by selling its abundant resources. But in the long term, that region will neither need nor want the U.S. as a partner. Biblical prophecy warns us that a predominately Roman Catholic Latin America will ultimately use its wealth to support a European superpower. While the U.S. is pushed out of Latin America as a hated enemy, watch for Europe to move in as a welcome guest. For more information, read “Latin America Swings Left.”