Speaking on Venezuelan television, Maduro said that the detention was reprisal for Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez’s speech to the General Assembly, in which he called U.S. president George Bush “the devil” and denounced Washington’s war in Iraq as imperialist.

Several dozen protesters caravanned through Caracas neighborhoods September 25 to denounce the provocation from Washington. Local authorities denied demonstrators permission to rally in front of the U.S. embassy. According to Los Tiempos, the protesters boarded cars and trucks and drove around Venezuela’s capital honking their horns.

Department of Homeland Security agents confiscated Maduro’s computer and travel documents and reportedly threatened him with physical violence and strip-search. “Threats of violence increased when we produced our passports and identity documents,” Maduro said, pointing out that the detention violated international laws regarding diplomatic immunity.

In addition to Maduro’s detention, Washington did not grant visas to six members of the Venezuelan delegation to the General Assembly meeting, including Chavez’s doctor and his security chief, as well as some Cuban citizens.

The U.S. government has made repeated attempts to undermine the Chavez government since his election in 1998. Washington backed a military coup in 2002, a bosses’ “strike” in 2003, and a presidential recall referendum in 2004. Through conscious organization and mobilization, Venezuela’s workers and peasants have defeated each of these attempts and broadened the political space they have to fight for land, jobs, and decent living conditions by taking advantage of laws and social programs passed by the government.

The U.S. State Department issued an official apology for the detention. However, U.S. Ambassador to the UN John Bolton dismissed Venezuela’s complaints. “There was no ‘incident’ at the airport—this was Venezuelan street theater,” he said. “He purchased his ticket at a time and in a manner and with funding such that he was asked to go to secondary screening.” Bolton was, referring to the fact that Maduro paid for his one-way ticket with cash.

The same day William Brownfield, U.S. ambassador to Venezuela, stated that the relationship between Washington and Caracas “is so important for the two countries that we try to ignore the polemical words, the rhetoric.” Venezuela is the world’s fifth-largest oil producer and the third-largest oil supplier to the United States.  
 
 
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