By NATALIE OBIKO PEARSON
The Associated Press
Saturday, September 23, 2006; 10:09 PM
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," a security check that can kick in when a passenger arrives without a ticket.
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.
Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said in Washington that Maduro was referred for secondary screening but never reached that section of the airport.
"He began to articulate his frustration with secondary screening right after he went through the magnetometer," Knocke said, referring to the walk-through metal detector. "Port Authority officials confronted him when the situation became a ruckus." Knocke did not elaborate.
A U.N. diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said that Maduro's passage was delayed because he had showed up late without a ticket, prompting the screening.
"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.
Knocke denied the allegations, telling the AP that "there's no evidence to substantiate any sort of abnormality in the screening process."
In remarks carried by Venezuelan TV stations, Maduro said U.S. authorities claimed a code on his airplane ticket identified him as "almost a terrorist."
Maduro abandoned his plans to board his flight and returned to New York city.
The incident comes as tensions between the two countries have taken a particularly confrontational turn this week.
Chavez has previously called Bush a "devil," "donkey" and "madman." While two countries are tied by oil _ Venezuela is among the top five suppliers of crude to the U.S. _ relations soured sharply in 2002 after the Bush administration swiftly recognized leaders who briefly ousted Chavez in a coup, before the Venezuelan returned to power amid street protests.
But this week's verbal attacks against his long-time foe while on American soil elicited a sharp backlash.
Bush's political foes and friends alike have condemned the remarks, newspapers have sharply criticized the Venezuelan leader, while a call has emerged for businesses to boycott Venezuela-owned Citgo Petroleum Corp. One U.S. governor said his state is no longer interested in buying discounted heating oil from Venezuela this winter.
Earlier Saturday, Chavez said Bush may be seeking to kill him for calling him "the devil" at the United Nations.
"Some worried friends over there have called me (to say) that because I called him the devil they have condemned me to death," Chavez said without elaborating further on his sources.
"But they won't kill me. I have faith in life," he said. "I know how to take care of myself and the Lord will protect me and you all will protect me," he told a cheering crowd in eastern Venezuela where he was visiting a group of state-funded agricultural cooperatives.
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AP U.N. correspondent Edith M. Lederer contributed to this report.