White House tries to smooth relationship with Venezuela

WASHINGTON, April 8 (UPI) -- Days ahead of the Summit of the Americas, the White House backed off language in a March executive order that said Venezuela posed an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to national security in the United States.

Speaking ahead of President Barack Obama's planned trip to the Caribbean and Latin America, Benjamin J. Rhodes, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, told reporters, "The United States does not believe that Venezuela poses some threat to our national security."

The order called for economic sanctions against seven Venezuelan officials who the United States accuses of human-rights abuses and political corruption.

In response, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro launched a campaign to get 10 million signatures demanding the order be repealed. Tuesday, Maduro announced 9 million had been collected. He plans to hand the signatures to Obama at the summit in Panama, which begins Friday.

Rhodes said the language in the executive order was "completely pro forma."

"We, frankly, just have a framework for how we formalize these executive orders," he said.

Venezuela is facing an ongoing economic and political crisis under Maduro. In February, Maduro announced Venezuela's own sanctions against the U.S., requiring a steep reduction in the number of U.S. government workers in the country.