A group of ten Republican senators want Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to designate Venezuela as a "state sponsor of terrorism."

In a letter to Clinton, the senators, led by George LeMieux of Florida and John Ensign of Nevada, expressed the need to elevate Venezuela to the harsher status in the State Department's annual evaluation of the terrorist threats posed by foreign countries. By designating Venezuela as a state sponsor of terrorism, the State Department would place more stringent restrictions on the country, from banning the sale of American arms to the cutting off U.S. economic aid.

"Hugo Chavez's relationships with Iran and other foreign terrorist organizations continue to grow and pose a serious threat to our hemisphere," LeMieux said. "The question is, how do we move forward with this information and the concrete examples of terrorist activities we have witnessed? I encourage the State Department to thoroughly evaluate Venezuela's actions and determine if the country needs to be added to the official U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism."

Since 2006, Venezuela has been categorized as "not cooperating fully" with U.S. anti-terrorism efforts, a status that allows for relatively free exchange with the United States.

The other GOP senators to sign the letter were Robert Bennett of Utah), Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Sam Brownback of Kansas, Jim Bunning of Kentucky, John Cornyn of Texas, James Inhofe of Oklahoma, Jon Kyl and John McCain of Arizona, James Risch of Idaho and Roger Wicker of Mississippi.

Source:Politico.com