Venezuela Expels Three US Diplomats

Venezuela announced on Monday that it will expel three US diplomats for allegedly conspiring with the political opposition. The top US diplomat and two embassy employees will have to leave the South American country.

President Nicolas Maduro made the announcement during a live TV appearance, saying the Americans would have 48 hours to leave the country.

Venezuela and the United States haven’t had mutual ambassadors since 2010, when late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez refused to accept a newly named US ambassador to the country.

The US Embassy wasn’t informed of the expulsion officially before Maduro’s announcement, according to the post’s acting deputy chief of mission, Gregory Adams. The Leftist leader stated, “I have asked Foreign Minister Elias Jaua to proceed with their immediate expulsion from the country. They have 48 hours to leave the country.”

Much like his predecessor, Maduro’s government has been accused of cracking down on free speech and independent media political activity. Corruption, rampant violent crime, worsening power outages, and increasing shortages of food and medicines have been issues.

Maduro also canceled a planned trip to New York to attend the UN General Assembly over an unspecified US plot. In announcing the three US diplomats’ expulsion from Venezuela, the president added:

“I don’t care what actions the government of Barack Obama takes. We’re not going to permit an imperialist government to come and bring money and see how basic companies can be halted and see how to take away electricity and shut down all of Venezuela.”

Venezuela has also endured several years of blackouts, which the government blames on the opposition. Maduro also expelled two US military attaches on March 5, hours before he announced Hugo Chavez’s death. He accused the attaches of promoting “destabilization projects.”

Maduro claimed the US diplomats met with the “Venezuelan far-right,” adding that they were planning on financing his opponents and “encourage actions to sabotage the power system and the economy.”

[Image by Agência Brasil via Wikimedia Commons]