Venezuela slams new US travel ban as ‘psychological terrorism’
The government in Caracas has lambasted the White House for a ban on the travel of Venezuelan citizens to the United States, saying the restriction is a form of "psychological terrorism.”
“These types of lists .... are incompatible with international law and constitute in themselves a form of psychological and political terrorism,” said the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry in a statement on Monday, a day after Washington included Venezuela in a list of eight countries targeted by a US travel ban.
The statement said the move to include Venezuela in the list was in line with Washington’s previous decisions to bring down the government in Caracas, adding that the ban, which is limited to officials from a list of government agencies and their families, aimed to “stigmatize” Venezuela.
It said the US government was using “the pretext of combating terrorism” to include Venezuela “in a unilaterally drawn-up list” and to accuse “other states of being alleged promoters of this terrible scourge."
The statement designated the move as an “irrational decision” which cataloged “the noble Venezuelan people as a threat to their (US) national security.”
The Socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro has repeatedly accused the United States of capitalizing on Venezuela’s economic problems, which have been exacerbated by a slump in global oil prices, to undermine the country’s political stability and pave the way for the rise of the pro-Western opposition to power.
Maduro has blamed the US government for protests and clashes in Venezuela that rocked the Latin American country for months.
Most of the nations affected by the ban were part of an original travel ban, introduced after President Donald Trump took office in January.
Sudan has been removed from the new list that includes North Korea, Chad, Venezuela, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.
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