Another Venezuelan Dipomat Plays the Ass

Is there something in the Venezuelan water that makes their officials stupid and obnoxious? From the Associated Press via Drudge:

NEW YORK (AP) - Venezuela's foreign minister said he was illegally detained for 90 minutes by officials at a New York airport and accused them of treating him abusively by trying to frisk and handcuff him.

U.S. officials called Saturday's incident regrettable and said they had apologized to Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro. Maduro called that insufficient and said Venezuela would seek a legal challenge through the U.N. to what he called a "flagrant violation of international law" and his diplomatic immunity.

"We were detained for an hour and a half, threatened by police with being beaten," Maduro told reporters at Venezuela's mission to the U.N. "We hold the U.S. government responsible."

Random harassment in retaliation for Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez's childish antics at the UN?

Not quite:

A U.N. diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said Maduro's trip was delayed because he had showed up late without a ticket, prompting extra screening.

Department of Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke denied that Maduro was mistreated at John F. Kennedy International Airport when he was selected for an added security check.

"He began to articulate his frustration with secondary screening right after he went through," a metal detector, Knocke said. "Port Authority officials confronted him when the situation became a ruckus."

If Maduro hadn't been too stupid and self-important to follow standard procedures he would have been escorted through security by the Secret Service.

Having trained TSA screeners and worked with LEOs (Law Enforcement Officers) interfacing with the TSA, I'll say unequivocally, that Maduro's accusations brand him as a liar, and not a very bright one at that.

The only "regrettable" part about this incident is that some milquetoast US official apologized to this horse's ass.