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Venezuela: Trump's travel ban is "political terrorism"

Venezuela railed against the latest changes to the Trump administration’s travel ban Monday, calling the new restrictions, which target certain Venezuelan officials and their family members, an act of “political terrorism.”

Venezuela’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement saying “these types of lists are incompatible with international law, and constitute a form of psychological and political terrorism.”

The statement added that Venezuelans “were being sanctioned because of their pacifist nature as well as their tolerance and respect for different religions and beliefs.”

The Department of Homeland Security on Sunday issued a revision to the previous ban, which now covers eight countries with the new additions of Venezuela, North Korea and Chad. The administration said Venezuela was added to the list because they weren’t sharing information pertaining to public-safety and terrorism, and were “uncooperative in verifying whether its citizens pose national security or public-safety threats.” The updated ban on Venezuela restricts certain government officials and their family members.

Tensions between Washington and Caracas have been high since the Trump administration imposed harsher sanctions against Venezuelan President Maduro last month. Trump blasted Venezuela in his first speech at the United Nations last week, saying its people were “starving and their country is collapsing.” Maduro later called Trump “the new Hitler.”

On Monday, Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Jorge Arreza also spoke out, telling the United Nation’s General Assembly that Trump was acting “as if he were the world’s emperor.”