Qaddafi's circle of allies in Latin America

Embattled Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi has vowed to fight the rebellion in his country to his last breath. There is a chance he may end up doing that from Managua, Nicaragua.

The Arab League has temporarily suspended Libya from its ranks, because, said Secretary General Amr Moussa, "the Arab League will not stand with its hands tied while the blood of the brotherly Libyan people is spilt."

While the Arab League turned their back on Qaddafi on Wednesday by considering a no-fly zone over the country, one day earlier, the United Nations General Assembly effectively censured Qaddafi in a near-unanimous vote.

Complete coverage: Anger in the Arab world

The lone dissenters at the United Nations were Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Those three countries did not vote against a resolution booting Libya from the Human Rights Council, but they expressed disagreement with the decision.

While Cuba's Fidel Castro and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez have not expressed support for Qaddafi, per se, Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega has.

Ortega reaffirmed his position last week, saying he "firmly maintained" his support for Qaddafi, whom he said has been the victim of "a ferocious media attack." The former guerrilla leader-turned-president called the situation in Libya "tough and difficult," adding that he hoped for peace.

The Jerusalem Post reports that Qaddafi's sons have urged him to seek asylum with Ortega.

Both Chavez and Castro have been careful to not praise Qaddafi, but they have espoused similar theories that the violence in Libya has been caused and/or overinflated by the West in order to take advantage of Libya's oil.

Chavez's failure to take a stand has prompted strong criticism from his political opponents at home.

The opposition-sided Tal Cual newspaper said in an editorial published on Friday that Chavez brought shame on his fellow citizens by forging close ties to Qaddafi, noting that last year he gave the Libyan leader a replica of the sword that once belonged to 19th-century independence hero Simon Bolivar.

"It's shameful for Venezuela that he has the sword ... of our 'Liberator'," it said.

In a Twitter message Thursday, Chavez said: "Viva Libya and its independence! Gadhafi is facing a civil war."

It was the first time that Chavez has publicly referred to the violence in Libya. He referred to the issue again late Friday, calling himself "a friend of Qaddafi" and warning against "the possibility of civil war" in Libya.

"I cannot say that I'm in favor" of what's happening in Libya, Chavez said. The self-proclaimed revolutionary said he has "maintained silence" regarding the situation in Libya because of muddled media reports.

"We've been prudent," he said.

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, one of the few who can claim to have ruled their country as long as Qaddafi, said the unrest may be a pretext for an invasion of Libya by members of North Atlantic Treaty Organization - a step that NATO has publicly ruled out.

"One could agree or disagree with Qaddafi," Castro said in a column published in Cuban state media last week, according to the International Business Times. Castro added that he was wary to believe all of the news about what was happening in Libya.

"We'll have to wait to know for certain how much is truth or lies, or a mixture of facts of all kinds which, in the midst of chaos, have been produced in Libya," he said.