Aug 12, 2005

Venezuela Says Americans Could Be Denied Visas in Response to U.S. Visa Revocations
By Christopher Toothaker
Associated Press Writer


CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - American citizens could be denied visas to visit Venezuela in response to a U.S. decision to revoke the visas of six Venezuelan military officers, the vice president said Friday. Jose Vicente Rangel said Venezuela had decided to take a harder line after the United States pulled the visas of six officers previously involved in anti-drug efforts with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

"The Venezuelan government ... will proceed quickly, with responsibility, but firmly to reciprocate in the cases of U.S. citizens who travel to our country," Rangel told a press conference.

Rangel said Venezuelans who apply for visas to the United States are often subject to "humiliating" treatment by U.S. Embassy officials. "We could study a similar policy," Rangel said, without giving specifics.

The visas of six military officers who worked with the DEA were revoked following Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's announcement this week that cooperation with the U.S. agency would be suspended because its agents were involved in spying.

U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield denied the accusations, which have aggravated tensions between Caracas and Washington.

Chavez made the accusations against DEA agents after prosecutors opened an investigation into the agency's activities in Venezuela.

Rangel said DEA agents in Venezuela also worked with "unacceptable autonomy" while "detaining and interrogating Venezuelans" without notifying Venezuelan authorities.

The vice president said DEA agents maintained "strange ties" with drug traffickers in Venezuela, which often serves as a corridor for Colombian cocaine destined for the United States and Europe.

Ryan Methany, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, declined to comment on the reason why the military officers' visas were revoked.

"Due to the confidentiality of the records, we cannot give details," Methany said.

Relations between the United States and Venezuela, the world's fifth largest oil exporter, have grown increasingly strained since Chavez survived a short-lived 2002 coup.

Chavez, a leftist former army paratroop commander with close ties to Fidel Castro, accused the administration of President George W. Bush of fomenting the military rebellion, an allegation U.S. officials deny.

He claims the United States backed opposition groups that helped organize a presidential recall last year. Chavez, who won the vote by a large margin, is up for re-election next year.
AP-ES-08-12-05 1550EDT

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