Hands Off Venezuela protests against detention of Nicolas Maduro

On Saturday, September 23, Venezuela's Foreign Affairs Minister Nicolás Maduro was taken into custody at JFK airport in New York as he was about to board a flight to Caracas. He was only released, an hour and a half later, after UN officials intervened.

Hands Off Venezuela would like to protest in the strongest terms possible against this abuse, which is also in breach of international law. Nicolas Maduro was in the United States as part of the Venezuelan delegation to the United Nations 61 General Assembly. It is difficult not to see the behaviour of US officials as some sort of retaliation for president Chavez's strongly worded denunciation of the imperialist policies of the US administration.

This is not the first time that Venezuelan officials have been subject to degrading and humilliating treatment in the US. Both the doctor and the head of security of Chavez's delegation to the UN were denied entry to the US and had to stay on their plane. This was a repeat of the situation the previous year when President Chavez attended the UN conference.

More recently, military aviation staff at the Venezuelan purchase and liaison offices in Miami and Ohio, where subject to "unfair, rude treatment" at the hands of US security personnel.

This unjustified harassment has clear political motives. The US administration does not like the Bolivarian Revolution and has done and will do all in its power to put an end to it and to the democratically elected government of President Chavez.

We wish to convey our solidarity to Nicolas Maduro, and once again reiterate our protest against this abuse.

London, September 25