NEW YORK, Sept 24: United Nations officials are trying to defuse an international diplomatic incident between Venezuela and the United States which blew up following the detention of Venezuela’s foreign minister by the US authorities at the JFK airport where he was to board plane to Caracas on Saturday.
Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro told reporters he was detained for 90 minutes by officials at a New York airport and accused them of treating him abusively by trying to frisk and handcuff him.
Last Monday, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez while addressing the UN General Assembly termed US President Bush a devil. This has enraged Bush administration officials.
US officials called Saturday’s incident regrettable and said they had apologised to the foreign minister.
However, Mr Maduro called that insufficient and said Venezuela would seek a legal challenge through the UN to what he called a “flagrant violation of international law” and his diplomatic immunity.
“We were detained for an hour and a half, threatened by police with being beaten,” Mr Maduro told reporters at Venezuela’s mission to the UN. “We hold the US government responsible.”
The AP news agency reported that US Department of Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocker denied that Mr Maduro was mistreated at the JFK International Airport when he was selected for an added security check.
“He began to articulate his frustration with secondary screening right after he went through,” a metal detector, Mr Knocker said. “Port authority officials confronted him when the situation became a ruckus.”
Mr Maduro said when one official ordered him to go to another room for a strip-search, he refused. He told CNN that the official had pushed him and yelled at him.
He told reporters the situation only worsened when he explained he was the Venezuelan foreign minister and showed his diplomatic passport.
Mr Maduro said the authorities at one point ordered him and other officials to spread their arms and legs and be frisked, but he said they forcefully refused. He said officers also threatened to handcuff him.
