Friday, January 8, 2010

2 Fla. congressmen want Venezuela on terror watch list

Two members of Congress from Florida want Venezuela added to the list of countries that require closer monitoring because of possible ties to terrorism.

In separate statements, Florida's Reps. Connie Mack, R-Ft. Myers, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, cited, among other reasons, the relationship between Venezuela and Iran, and Venezuela's ties with communist rebels in neighboring Colombia.

A practical effect of such a designation is that airline passengers traveling from Venezuela to the United States would have to undergo heightened screening procedures enacted after an attempted bombing of a U.S.-bound jetliner on Christmas day.

Currently, the U.S. designates four countries - Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria - as state sponsors of terrorism; and an additional 10 as "countries of interest": Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen.

El Nuevo Herald has more on the anti-Venezuela sentiment.

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