WIKILEAKS CABLES SHOW CHAVEZ DETAINED AMERICAN AIRCRAFT

WikiLeaks cables have revealed that the crew of an American Airlines jet was detained in Venezuela in 2008 after making a minor joke over the aircraft address system about President Hugo Chavez. The report says that after American flight 903 to Caracas landed, one crew member announced: “Welcome to Venezuela, local Chavez time is…,” a reference to the unique time zone Chavez put the country into in 2007. A friend of a Venezuelan legislator on the flight heard the announcement as “loco Chavez time,” and relayed his report to the authorities who was waiting to meet him. By the time