Caracas, January 5 (RHC-Mercopress) -- Venezuela now holds a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council for two years.

The election of Venezuela to the Security Council took place on October 15th with 181 votes in favor at the UN General Assembly. Venezuela is replacing Argentina, which held office until December 31, 2014.

On December 26th, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro appointed Rafael Ramirez, who was the country's foreign minister until that date, as the new ambassador to the United Nations. Ramirez will replace Samuel Moncada, who served since June 2013.

“Under Chávez's Bolivarian vision we will accomplish our task of defending the right to peace and sovereignty of the peoples of the world,” said Maduro upon Ramirez’s appointment. The Venezuelan government aims at “supporting, along with the Non-Aligned member countries (NAM) of the Security Council, the draft resolutions drawn up by Russia and China on matters of common interest... such as the risks facing Syria or Libya,” stated the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in an official document.

In fact, in addition to holding a seat at the UN Security Council, Venezuela will also chair the Non-Aligned Movement, taking over from Iran this year.

Counterterrorism, the renewal of the 14 UN peace keeping operations, the fight against Ebola, the sanctions against Iran or Somalia, or the Ukraine-Russia conflict or the complex Middle East situation are some of the topics in Rafael Ramírez's agenda for 2015.

Since it strongly advocates a multi-polar world, Venezuela's agenda at home and abroad targets decolonization, including the Malvinas Islands, Puerto Rican independence, the Sahrawi people's independence and recognition of the Palestinian State.