In addition to the new mandatory visa requirements for American visitors, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro also announced in a speech on Saturday that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney would not be allowed visas to enter the country, calling them “terrorists,” RT reported.
Along with the former president and vice-president, Maduro also said that Congressional Republicans Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL), Marco Rubio (FL), and Democrat Robert Menendez (NJ) would be banned from obtaining visas as well.
Maduro said that these new travel bans target those who “violated human rights and bombed villages in Iraq, Syria, and Vietnam,” and that from now on, US diplomats “will be required to seek approval from the Foreign Ministry for meetings they conduct in Venezuela,” according to RT.
For all other Americans traveling to Venezuela, a new tourist visa fee will be implemented at a rate equal to that which “a Venezuelan pays to travel to the US,” Maduro said. He also plans to downsize the staff at the US embassy in Caracas.
“First I have ordered the Foreign Ministry … to proceed immediately to review [and] limit the number of officials at the [US] embassy in Venezuela,” Maduro said. “They have 100 staff; we have 17.”
Tensions between the US and Venezuela have been elevated since last month when President Maduro accused the US, and Vice President Joe Biden specifically, of orchestrating an attempted coup in Venezuela in 2014.
“The northern imperial power has entered a dangerous phase of desperation, going to talk to the continent’s governments to announce the overthrow of my government. And I accuse Vice President Joe Biden of this.”
While the US’ involvement in this attempted coup, if any, may be up for debate, at least we can agree with President Maduro that Bush and Cheney are evil.
