Venezuelan Cardinal's passport seized amid political tensions

Venezuelan Cardinal Baltazar Porras announced on Wednesday that his passport was confiscated and he was prevented from traveling abroad, an action occurring amidst heightened political tensions in the South American country.

Porras, one of the Catholic Church's leading figures in Venezuela, took to social media platform X to explain that immigration officials at Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía, near Caracas, informed him that his passport was "not up to date," which led to his inability to board his scheduled flight.

"After an hour and a half, a soldier approached and told me I could not travel. I asked him to return my passport so I could retrieve my luggage. Even when I went to the bathroom, the official closely followed me, asking why I was going there," Porras stated, adding that he has since returned home.

The cardinal had planned to attend several church-related events in Madrid over the next two weekends, with plans to return on December 21.

The Communications Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the incident.

This incident took place just as Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was set to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her ongoing efforts to combat the dictatorship in Venezuela. Machado, who has lived in hiding, was en route to Oslo on Wednesday, defying a travel ban that has been in place for nearly a decade.

Relations between Venezuela's government and the Catholic Church have long been strained. During the canonization of Venezuelan doctor José Gregorio Hernández at the Vatican in October, church leaders urged authorities to respect human rights and release political prisoners.

The Venezuelan government has repeatedly accused the Church of conspiring against it.

In October, President Nicolás Maduro remarked that Porras had "dedicated his entire life to conspiring against José Gregorio Hernández, but has been defeated by God and by the people," adding that the canonization of Hernández had finally been achieved. -Sarah Kinosian/Reuters