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U.S. tells Venezuelan ambassador to leave
The U.S. State Department announced Friday it has informed Venezuela's ambassador to Washington that "he will be expelled". The step comes in retaliation for the expulsion of the US envoy to Caracas. The move was announced after the U.S. Treasury said Friday it was freezing any U.S. assets of two senior Venezuelan officials and a former official after accusing them of aiding Colombian rebels involved in drug trafficking. "We have informed the Venezuelan ambassador to the United States that he will be expelled and that he should leave the United States," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Thursday expelled the U.S. envoy to Caracas and threatened to halt crude exports to the United States in case his government is attacked, in an act of solidarity with his country's ally Bolivia. "Starting at this moment the Yankee ambassador in Caracas has 72 hours to leave Venezuela," Chavez said at a public event in the port city of Puerto Cabello, 120 kilometers west of Caracas. Chavez made it clear that his decision was "in solidarity" with the leftist government of President Evo Morales in Bolivia, which on Wednesday ordered the U.S. ambassador to La Paz to leave. Washington late Thursday expelled Bolivia's ambassador to the United States. Posted by: Fred 2008-09-13 |
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