US protests Venezuela's detention of football security agents
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| Published on Friday, July 6, 2007 |
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WASHINGTON, USA (AFP): The United States protested Thursday the brief detention in Venezuela of two US security agents assigned to the US team participating in the Copa America football (soccer) tournament.
"I think they're aware of the fact that we think that this is not the kind of behavior one would expect from a country with which you have diplomatic relations," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.
McCormack told reporters the two State Department agents were held for two hours after arriving at the airport of Maracaibo about 10 days ago.
The government of President Hugo Chavez later issued "some decrees that made it more difficult for our security people to operate in the country," he said, adding, however, that the agents would continue to operate in Venezuela.
McCormack refused to give more detail, but Venezuelan media reported that the agents' gun permits were revoked.
"I guess it's, in a way, not completing surprising, coming from the Chavez government. They have sought various ways to harass US government officials," McCormack said.
US-Venezuelan relations have deteriorated since the leftist Chavez was first elected in 1999.
Last September, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said he was held for an hour and a half at a New York airport during a trip to the United Nations. The US State Department apologized for the incident.
The United States' Copa America team, which already was eliminated from the competition after losing its first two games, was to play its final match Thursday against Colombia.
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