Maduro Says Venezuela Detains US Citizens; Announces Moves against US


Maduro Says Venezuela Detains US Citizens; Announces Moves against US

TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said his government had detained US citizens, including a pilot, on suspicion of espionage, in a move likely to strain already tense relations between Washington and Caracas.

Maduro also said his government would order a reduction in the number of US embassy staff in Caracas and prohibit some US officials from entering Venezuela in retaliation for a similar US measure last year. Venezuela would also require US citizens to obtain visas before visiting, he told a rally.

The Venezuelan president, long at odds with Washington, has renewed accusations in recent weeks that the United States is seeking to topple him.

Maduro's political opponents at home call this a smokescreen aimed at distracting from an increasingly severe economic crisis in the oil-exporting nation. Venezuela has been hard hit by the collapse of oil prices over the last nine months.

"We have captured some US citizens in undercover activities, espionage, trying to win over people in towns along the Venezuelan coast," Maduro said at a rally in Caracas adding one was a US pilot detained in the volatile border state of Tachira.

"In Tachira we captured a pilot of a US plane (who is) of Latin origin (carrying) all kinds of documentation," Maduro said, without offering details.

He said US politicians including former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney, and Senator Bob Menendez would be blocked from entering Venezuela, Reuters reported.

Menendez in response said: "Being sanctioned by the Maduro regime will never deter me from speaking out against the ruin caused by his government."

A spokesman for the US embassy in Caracas said he was unable to comment, citing a lack of any official diplomatic communication with the Venezuelan government.

An official in US President Barack Obama's administration broadly dismissed the accusations from Caracas.

"The continued allegations that the United States is involved in efforts to destabilize the Venezuelan government are baseless and false," the senior administration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The head of a Venezuelan evangelical organization said on Friday a group of four missionaries had been called in for questioning after taking part in a medical assistance campaign in the coastal town of Ocumare de la Costa.

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