Aide Detained at Airport en Route to Venezuela

Venezuela’s foreign minister was detained at John F. Kennedy Airport yesterday while trying to fly home after the United Nations General Assembly meeting, prompting an apology from the State Department.

The minister, Nicolas Maduro, was returning to Caracas, Venezuela, when he was prevented from boarding his plane, said Joanne Moore, a duty officer at the State Department.

Now why would they stop a diplomat? Did they suddenly discover bomb making materials in his suit pockets?

CNN, quoting an anonymous White House official, said that Mr. Maduro, his wife and their child, arrived at the airport 30 minutes before their scheduled flight yesterday and paid for their tickets in cash. He was asked to go through a second security check but refused and started making a call on his cellphone, the official told CNN.

The official said that Mr. Maduro informed airport security that he was a diplomat only after his travel documents, including his passport, had been confiscated.

AHAH! He paid cash. And he was traveling with his wife and child!! VERY suspicious.

Have you ever seen a diplomatic passport? I’ve seen several, although it was more 30 years ago. Maybe not all countries follow the convention, but the ones I saw were larger than the “normal” passport and had a different cover color. Some countries stamp the outside of the passport, identifying it as a diplomatic document. I imagine it would be a nice exercise to learn if Venezuela follows this convention.

Mr. Maduro told CNN that when he informed authorities at Kennedy airport that he was the Venezuelan foreign minister and showed his diplomatic passport, he was threatened and shoved by immigration officers.

He said that he believed he was detained in retaliation for President Chavez’s speech at the United Nations [describing Mr Bu$h as “the devil], according to CNN. However, the White House official was quoted as saying that there was no connection.

Apparently the White House, acting through the Department of Homeland Security, is now conducting its own foreign policy program, excluding the State Department, which has proved itself to be ideologically unreliable, what with complaining about making was on innocent countries, and protesting torture as useless in obtaining information.

This would never have happened if Venezuela did not have a lot of oil. Because it does, Hugo Chavez is a dangerous radical and must be replaced, despite having been chosen in a free election.