Venezuela asks UN to guarantee respect for president Maduro

Venezuela has sent a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asking him to provide guarantees of respect to the country’s President, Nicolas Maduro, and other members of the Venezuelan delegation who are about leave for New York where they will attend a session of the UN General Assembly, Foreign Minister Elias Jaua said Monday. As he spoke in an interview with the national television, he underlined the importance of respectful treatment for President Maduro and the officials accompanying him. Jaua made it clear that a final decision on whether or not the Venezuelan delegation will take part in the General Assembly session has not been taken yet. Venezuelan authorities expressed disgust last week over the U.S. refusal to permit Maduro’s jet cross the American air space and qualified Washington’s step as an act of aggression. Simultaneously, Maduro said the U.S. had denied a travel visa to the chief of the presidential administration staff, Wilmer Barrientos, who was going to attend the session. Jaua recalled in this connection that granting visas to all members of the Venezuelan delegation was an immediate duty of the U.S. and he promised that the Venezuelan government would take tough diplomatic measures in response. An official spokesman for the U.S. Department of State turned down Venezuela’s accusations. Venezuela and the U.S. have been keeping up diplomatic relations at the level of charges d’affaires for the past three years. At the end of 2010, the U.S. appointed Larry Palmer ambassador in Caracas. The latter made a statement in Congress saying the Venezuelan military had low moral standards and maintained ties with rebels in Colombia. President Hugo Chavez said in response then that Palmer would never come to Caracas as ambassador and that the White House, which insisted on this candidate, was effectuating an act of aggressions. In response, Washington denied a visa to the Venezuelan ambassador, Bernardo Alvarez, who was compelled to return home.