- CARACAS, Venezuela(AP) --
Venezuela's foreign minister was detained by U.S. authorities at a New
York airport for more than hour Saturday as he tried to return to the South
American country, President Hugo Chavez said.
-
- U.S. and U.N. officials called the incident regrettable
but said Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro had been identified for "secondary
screening," a security check that can kick in when a passenger arrives
without a ticket.
-
- Maduro told CNN en Espanol that he was confined to a
small room and told to remove his clothes. He charged that when he showed
his diplomatic passport, he says he was threatened, pushed and yelled at
by immigration and police officials.
-
- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told Venezuela's state
TV broadcaster that U.S. officials alleged that Maduro had links to a failed
coup that Chavez led in Venezuela in 1992.
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- "They have held him accusing him of participating
in terrorist acts here," Chavez said in Venezuela. "He didn't
even participate in that patriotic rebellion," he said, referring
to the uprising he led while still an army officer.
-
- Both Venezuelan politicians were in New York the past
week attending the yearly U.N. General Assembly, where Chavez called President
Bush "the devil" during his U.N. speech. He later criticized
the U.S. leader during a stop in Harlem before returning home.
-
- Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said in Washington
that Maduro was referred for secondary screening but never reached that
section of the airport.
-
- "He began to articulate his frustration with secondary
screening right after he went through the magnetometer," Knocke said,
referring to the walk-through metal detector. "Port Authority officials
confronted him when the situation became a ruckus." Knocke did not
elaborate.
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- A U.N. diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity
because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said that Maduro's passage
was delayed because he had showed up late without a ticket, prompting the
screening.
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- "We can confirm that a regrettable incident occurred
at John F. Kennedy airport for which the U.S. government has apologized
to Foreign Minister Maduro and the government of Venezuela," U.S.
State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.
-
- Maduro told CNN en Espanol that he was confined to a
small room and told to remove his clothes. He charged that when he showed
his diplomatic passport, he says he was threatened, pushed and yelled at
by immigration and police officials.
-
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- http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2483445
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