US halts arms sales to Venezuela

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez  

Video

May 16 - The measure is intended to punish Venezuela's president for his connections to Cuba and Iran.

The sanctions escalate a crisis with the U.S. oil supplier and come after years of antagonism between the two nations on issues ranging from trade to energy prices that have dragged ties to their worst state in decades.
Deborah Lutterbeck reports.

SOUNDBITE: U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, saying (English):
"After many years of engagement with Venezuela and many years of attempting to build more of a co-operative framework with Venezuela, that this point in time we could not tell our Congress that Venezuela was indeed co-operating with us in a meaningful fashion."