Venezuela to U.N.: Make Sure U.S. Respects Us at General Assembly

Venezuela said Monday it has asked the United Nations for guarantees that its president and his entourage will be respected by the United States when they attend the General Assembly this week.

Venezuela is angry because it says the United States temporarily denied permission Thursday for a plane due to take President Nicolas Maduro to China to go through U.S. air space.

Washington did let the plane pass through in the end, but say the request was filed incorrectly.

The Venezuelan ambassador to the U.N. has sent a letter to U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon seeking "guarantees" for Maduro and his entourage, Foreign Minister Elias Jaua told Venezuelan television, speaking from Beijing.

"The president and we, his entourage, need guarantees that we are going to be respected by the government of the United States," Jaua said.

Maduro was furious the day the flight permission was delayed.

He says the United States also denied visas to members of the Venezuelan delegation heading to the U.N., but the U.S. State Department denied this.

The United States and Venezuela withdrew their respective ambassadors in 2010, and relations have still been tense since the death of longtime leftist leader Hugo Chavez in March.

Still, the United States is oil-rich Venezuela's biggest buyer of petroleum.