U.S. Detained Venezuela's Foreign Minister at JFK, Told Him to Strip

[kurth]

Chavez: U.S. Detained Foreign Minister
Hugo Chavez Says U.S. Held Foreign Minister; Americans Say He Required Screening at Airport
By NATALIE OBIKO, The Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela - 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"...

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. "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.

"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. "They were violating diplomatic conventions," he said...

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2483445

[Botany]

1. The Foreign Minister was strip searched?

"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...

I want my country back!

[booley]

2. Doesn't he have diplomatic immunity?

or something that would protect him? I mean, he's an official of a soveriegn state.

How can customs and immigration officials not know what diplomatic papers look like? Isn' that kinda required for the job?

[bobbie]

5. It was clear harassment

And retribution for giving the devil his due.

[katinmn]

3. The headline should be: "US Govt Apologizes to Venezuela, Minister"

But of course, the fact that they were wrong and had to apologize is buried in the 9th paragraph.

[EFerrari]

4. Are we humiliated yet?

[kurth]

14. Evidently, the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations needs

CLARIFICATION.

[Kutjara]

6. What I wouldn't pay to have * detained at a foreign airport,

stripped, humiliated, rubber glove up the ass, the whole nine yards. Maybe they could delouse him while they're at it.

Oh well, a guy can dream.

[rman]

7. So why did they not strip search Chavez, who is known

(not merely alleged) to have links to a failed coup that Chavez led in Venezuela in 1992?

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

8. BushCo never passes up an opportunity...

...to remind everyone what a bunch of small minded, petty, vindictive, imbeciles they are.

[wakeme2008]

9. Once a diplomatic passport is shown the assholes should have

just left him alone... But now any country can strip search our diplomats... :grr:

[izzie]

10. Sounds like bully on the play ground.

My God but has this country got second rate.

[Canuckistanian]

11. It's the Mafia-ization of America

Somebody says something you don't like? Then rough them up. Doesn't matter who they are.

The country is ruled by the Dinsdale brothers.

[DemoTex]

12. Condi has just become "persona non grata" in a number of countries.

Exactly why you do not do this kind of shit.

[kurth]

15. NEXT: "Venezuela detains, orders Condi Rice to strip at Caracas airport"

[malaise]

13. The spin is mind-blowing

From he showed them his passport they knew what they were doing. Any bets DHS was behind this?

[tsuki]

16. Yer doin a heckuva job, Chertoff. nt