Venezuela warns US over judge’s cancelled visa

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela may stop allowing visits by American officials after US immigration authorities cancelled the tourist visa of the Venezuelan Supreme Court president, the country's vice president said. 

Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel's office issued the warning on Monday in a statement criticising the withdrawal this month of a US visa granted to Venezuela's top magistrate, Omar Mora.  

"A lot of Americans come here, officials and senators, and we receive them without problems," Rangel said. "But if this kind of policy continues, which attacks Venezuelan institutions and respectable citizens like the Supreme Court president, we will eventually have to adopt a similar measure."  

The visa incident seemed likely to further sour relations between Venezuela and the US, which is its biggest oil client. 

Leftist Chavez is a fierce critic of US policies and accuses Washington of trying to topple or kill him, a charge dismissed as ridiculous by American officials.  

Mora last week condemned the cancellation of his visa as an offence against the dignity of his position.  

He suggested US authorities had acted out of revenge against Venezuela for demanding the extradition of Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles, who is wanted by Caracas for the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner in which 73 people were killed.  

US Embassy officials said the cancellation of Mora's visa was a purely consular matter. They declined to give more details, but said Mora could apply for another one.  

- REUTERS