Venezuela a threat to regional stability, security –U.S. official

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Venezuela poses a clear threat to regional stability and could drag down key U.S. allies like Brazil, Argentina and Colombia, a senior Treasury Department official said on Wednesday.

"Venezuela poses a clear threat to regional stability and security,"  Marshall Billingslea, assistant secretary for terrorist financing at the Treasury Department, told an audience in Washington.

"This is a hemispheric issue and the implosion of the regime there is a direct challenge for us," he added.

(Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Bernadette Baum)