CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Conservative U.S. politicians banned from traveling to Venezuela by socialist President Nicolas Maduro are taking the restriction as a badge of honor.
Maduro laid out a series of measures against U.S. diplomats and tourists Saturday night, including a promise to limit the size of the embassy here and impose a tourist visa requirement.
Maduro also gave a list of U.S. officials who would be barred from entering Venezuela because of what he called their “terrorist” warmongering. He named former President George W Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney and several congressmen.
Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida responded with faux disappointment that he wouldn’t be able to travel to “a corrupt country.”
Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said on Twitter that she was proud to be listed among such “good company.”
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