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US orders non-emergency embassy staff to leave Venezuela
WASHINGTON, Jan 25, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The United States on Thursday ordered
non-emergency embassy staff to leave Venezuela but refused to comply with a
full expulsion demanded by Nicolas Maduro, who Washington says is no longer
president.
The State Department mandated the departure of non-emergency US personnel
and their family members “based on our current assessment of the security
situation in Venezuela,” a department spokesman said.
“We have no plans to close the embassy. The United States will maintain
diplomatic relations with Venezuela through the government of interim
President Guaido, who has invited our mission to remain in Venezuela,” he
said.
Amid deadly political clashes in the crisis-torn country, the State
Department also said that US citizens “should strongly consider departing
Venezuela.”
Maduro on Wednesday gave US diplomats 72 hours to leave the country after
President Donald Trump, backed by major Latin American nations, said the
leftist firebrand was no longer Venezuela’s legitimate president.
The United States said it was ignoring the order as it had recognized
Guaido, the opposition head of the National Assembly, as the interim
president.
But Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview Thursday that
Maduro — to whom the military leadership is still loyal — bore
responsibility for the safety of US diplomats.
“There’s no higher priority for the State Department than to keep all the
people in our missions safe and secure. And we’ve made clear to the Maduro
regime that it is our expectation that they will be safe and secure,” he told
conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham.
“What we want to make sure that former president Maduro knows is that he
doesn’t have the right to make the decision about whether or not we stay
there,” Pompeo said.
State Department officials have not said how many US personnel remain in
Venezuela.
Maduro has also shuttered US missions in the United States.
BSS/AFP/MRI/0827 hrs