 Venezuela, under President Hugo Chávez, announced its plans to seek a UNSC seat in 2004.It presented itself as an alternative to what it considered U.S. global hegemony and, in the words of foreign minister Nicolás Maduro, an "end to the unipolar world that has been so damaging".Venezuela conducted an extensive global campaign in search of support for its candidacy in the months prior to the vote, particularly in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, where it offered generous packages of oil-funded aid; it claimed to have had the backing of Mercosur and of significant portions of the Arab League, the African Union, the Caribbean Community, the Non-Aligned Movement, Russia and China.