Reuters By Diego Ore and Brian Ellsworth From Yahoo News

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Saturday his government had detained U.S. citizens, including a pilot, on suspicion of espionage, in a move likely to strain already tense relations between Washington and Caracas.

Maduro also said his government would order a reduction in the number of U.S. embassy staff in Caracas and prohibit some U.S. officials from entering Venezuela in retaliation for a similar U.S. measure last year. Venezuela would also require U.S. citizens to obtain visas before visiting, he told a rally.

The Venezuelan president, long at odds with Washington, has renewed accusations in recent weeks that the United States is seeking to topple him.

Maduro’s political opponents at home call this a smokescreen aimed at distracting from an increasingly severe economic crisis in the oil-exporting nation. Venezuela has been hard hit by the collapse of oil prices over the last nine months.

“We have captured some U.S. citizens in undercover activities, espionage, trying to win over people in towns along the Venezuelan coast,” Maduro said at a rally in Caracas adding one was a U.S. pilot detained in the volatile border state of Tachira.

“In Tachira we captured a pilot of a U.S. plane (who is) of Latin origin (carrying) all kinds of documentation,” Maduro said, without offering details.

He said U.S. politicians including former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney, and Senator Bob Menendez would be blocked from entering Venezuela.

Menendez in response said: “Being sanctioned by the Maduro regime will never deter me from speaking out against the ruin caused by his government.”

A spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Caracas said he was unable to comment, citing a lack of any official diplomatic communication with the Venezuelan government.

An official in U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration broadly dismissed the accusations from Caracas.

“The continued allegations that the United States is involved in efforts to destabilize the Venezuelan government are baseless and false,” the senior administration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

EVANGELICALS QUESTIONED

The head of a Venezuelan evangelical organization said on Friday a group of four missionaries had been called in for questioning after taking part in a medical assistance campaign in the coastal town of Ocumare de la Costa.

That pastor, Abdy Pereira, said on Saturday in a telephone interview that the four had left the country for Aruba after having been questioned for several days about alleged involvement in espionage.

“The government attempted to link them to (espionage activities) but there was no evidence that this was the case,” said Pereira.

The Communication Ministry did not answer calls seeking details about the identities of the missionaries or their whereabouts.

On the move to reduce the U.S. mission in Caracas, Maduro said he had ordered Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez to proceed immediately, based on Vienna convention rules, “to revise, reduce … and limit the number of officials in the U.S. embassy in Venezuela.”

It was not clear when embassy officials would have to leave.

Maduro added that Americans will now need visas to enter Venezuela and will have to pay the same visa fees that Venezuelans pay to get into the United States.

The president’s moves followed the arrest this month of Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma on conspiracy charges, a move Maduro said would stymie a U.S.-backed coup effort.

Maduro’s adversaries said the plot was a charade meant to distract from consumer goods shortages, soaring prices and Maduro’s tumbling popularity ratings.

Caracas and Washington have had tense diplomatic relations since the era of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, who was briefly toppled in a 2002 coup that he said was orchestrated by the State Department.

The government of then U.S. President George W. Bush endorsed that coup before backtracking when Chavez returned to power.

(Reporting by Diego Ore, writing by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Bernard Orr, Frances Kerry and Michael Perry)

IMAGE: Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro addresses the audience at the Diplomatic Centre in Port-of-Spain, …

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Venezuela to limit US diplomats, require visas for Americans
By Sofia Miselem, AFP From Business Insider

Caracas (AFP) – President Nicolas Maduro plans to limit the US diplomatic presence in Venezuela and require American tourists to obtain visas, amid growing tensions between the two countries.

The leftist president said the measures, announced Saturday, aimed to “control” US meddling in Venezuelan affairs.

Maduro has intensified in recent months his allegations of coup and assassination plans — often purportedly backed by the United States — as he faces a deep economic crisis and a sharp drop in popularity.

“In order to protect our country… I have decided to implement a system of compulsory visas for all Americans entering Venezuela,” he told supporters.

Under the new measures, Venezuela will start charging tourists the same visa fees the United States asks of Venezuelans, though it was unclear when the plan would be implemented.

But the restrictions could also have an impact on business travelers seeking to invest in one of the biggest oil producers.

In his fiery speech outside the Miraflores presidential palace, Maduro noted that the Americans have 100 diplomatic staff in Caracas, compared to 17 Venezuelan diplomats in Washington.

He cited the Vienna Convention’s principle of the equality of states concerning the size of respective diplomatic missions in ordering his Foreign Ministry to “reduce, adjust and limit the number of US officials” at the American embassy in Caracas.

– US ‘terrorists’ banned –

Additionally, Maduro singled out several US political figures as being unable to come to Venezuela because his government considers them “terrorists.”

“A group of US political leaders who have violated human rights in bombing” countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan “will not be able to enter Venezuela because they are terrorists,” Maduro said.

Maduro cited former president George W. Bush and his vice president Dick Cheney, as well as Hispanic American lawmakers Bob Menendez, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Marco Rubio.

Maduro said the visa decision was made after the capture of an American pilot of Latin American origin in the western state of Tachira suspected of carrying out “covert” espionage activities.

He did not provide additional details about the previously unreported arrest.

Maduro also warned that the US mission must alert and receive authorization from the local government for any meeting held by US diplomats in Venezuela.

In recent days, the Venezuelan president has hardened his speech against the US embassy in Caracas, accusing it of “interference and abuse,” and of meeting with the Venezuelan opposition.

On Monday, he demanded that the “damn Yankees” respect his homeland, and called on US President Barack Obama to “rectify” the “chaos” of Washington’s policy toward Venezuela.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has blasted the “egregious behavior” of Maduro’s government, vowing to quickly implement recent sanctions against the country.

The top US diplomat said Wednesday that the Maduro government had made a series of “wrong choices” in its handling of anti-government protests, as well as its clampdown on opposition leaders over claims of a US-backed coup plot.

Washington and Caracas have been at diplomatic odds since Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chavez came to power in 1999, repeatedly criticizing US “imperialist” policy.

They withdrew their ambassadors from each other’s country in 2010, and Venezuela has expelled several US diplomats under Maduro.

In December, the US imposed sanctions on senior Venezuelan officials accused of violating the rights of protesters during anti-government demonstrations at the start of 2014.

IMAGE: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro delivers a speech during a ceremony commemorating the 26th anniversary of El Caracazo, a deadly popular revolt, in Caracas on February 28, 2015 © AFP Federico Parra

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