US Backtracks on Claims That Venezuela is 'Extraordinary Threat'

Turns out Venezuela is not the evil empire after all. That’s what the White House appears to be saying just days before the Summit of the Americas starts in Panama, which President Obama plans to attend.

The uproar over Venezuela started last month, when Obama signed an executive order declaring a "national emergency" as far as Venezuela was concerned, and calling the South American country "an extraordinary threat" to US national security and foreign policy.

That infuriated most Latin American countries, Venezuela in particular. President Nicolás Maduro launched a campaign to collect 10 million signatures, all demanding the declaration be rescinded.

A woman walks past graffiti which reads "Gringo, respect us!" in Caracas March 10, 2015. President Nicolas Maduro was seeking special decree powers from Venezuela's parliament on Tuesday in response to new U.S. sanctions, drawing opposition protests of a power-grab

© REUTERS / Carlos Garcia Rawlins

As of Tuesday, nine million signatures had been collected, and Maduro plans to hand the signatures to Obama at the summit which begins on Friday. Roberta Jacobson, Assistant US Secretary of State for Latin America, said she was "disappointed" by the support shown for Venezuela among leaders in the region.

International organizations and leaders in other parts of the world have also criticized Obama’s decree.

However, during a White House press conference on Tuesday, senior White House advisor Benjamin Rhodes indicated that the Obama administration was backtracking from its controversial pronouncement.

"The United States does not believe that Venezuela poses some threat to our national security," Rhodes said in remarks that were first reported by Venezuela’s Telesur news network.