Just a little wake-up call from Satan to Hugo: Chavez: U.S. detained foreign minister. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela’s foreign minister was detained by U.S. authorities at a New York airport for more than hour Saturday as he tried to return to the South American country, President Hugo Chavez said.

U.S. and U.N. officials called the incident regrettable but said Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro had been identified for “secondary screening,” a security check that can kick in when a passenger arrives without a ticket.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told Venezuela’s state TV broadcaster that U.S. officials alleged that Maduro had links to a failed coup that Chavez led in Venezuela in 1992.

“They have held him accusing him of participating in terrorist acts here,” Chavez said in Venezuela. “He didn’t even participate in that patriotic rebellion,” he said referring to the uprising he led while still an army officer.

Both Venezuelan politicians were in New York the past week attending the yearly U.N. General Assembly, where Chavez attracted attention with a speech calling President Bush “the devil.” He later criticized the U.S. leader during a stop in Harlem before returning home.

“The airline identified him for secondary screening,” Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said in Washington. Airlines check passengers names against watch lists and apply certain criteria — such as paying for a ticket with cash — to direct passengers to a more intensive, or “secondary,” screening process. “From secondary screening the department was able to confirm his identity as the foreign minister for Venezuela,” Knocke said.

A U.N. diplomat, who spoke condition of anonymity because not authorized to speak publicly, said that Maduro’s passage was delayed because he had showed up late without a ticket, prompting the screening process.

UPDATE at 9/23/06 7:37:50 pm:

Nicolas Maduro made the news when he presented recordings made under questionable circumstances claiming that the CIA was involved in a plan to destabilize Venezuela during the 2005 elections.

On December 9, 2005, National Assembly President Nicolas Maduro, MVR party leader Cilia Flores, and National Assembly Vice President Pedro Carreño claimed that Venezuelan state intelligence forces thwarted a plot to destabilize Venezuela during the election. They presented recordings allegedly involving active and retired dissident military officers talking about causing 15,000 deaths, chaos, and attacks on government institutions. According to the lawmakers, the CIA supported this plan.