Washington is barring a small group of Venezuelan officials from entering the United States, accusing them of abuses in the South American nation's response on protests against President Nicolas Maduro this spring.  The group includes government ministers and advisers to President Nicolas Maduro.

“These are desperate actions.  They’re meant against us, but at root, they are a recognition of revolutionary Venezuela’s important role in building the new Latin America.  We welcome their fury,” said Foreign Minister Elias Jaua, who questioned the timing of the announcement – months after the protests against the democratically elected government had fizzled out.

Months of demonstrations supported by the far-right wing (and US government, allege the Venezuelan authorities) led to the deaths of 43 people in the worst violence there in a decade.  Venezuela arrested several hundred protesters as well as several police officers accused of going too far to quell the unrest.

But the US says the abuses went beyond that, according to US State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf.

“While we will not publicly identify these individuals because of visa record confidentiality, our message is clear:  those who commit such abuses will not be welcome in the United States,” Harf said.

This comes after the failed attempt to extradite Venezuela’s former intelligence chief under President Chavez on drug charges.  General Hugo Carvajal was arrested on the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba on a US drug charges.  But The Netherlands decided that Carvajal was traveling on a diplomatic passport, and the arrest was illegal.  He returned to Venezuela.