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US expels Venezuelan diplomat
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-04 09:04
Responding to Venezuela's expulsion of a U.S. naval officer from Caracas, the
US State Department on Friday declared a senior Venezuelan diplomat persona non
grata and gave her 72 hours to leave the United States.
Spokesman Sean McCormack said Jeny Figueredo Frias, the embassy chief of
staff, has been ordered to leave.
On Thursday, President Hugo Chavez said Venezuela was expelling U.S. naval
attache John Correa for allegedly passing secret information from Venezuelan
military officers to the Pentagon.
In Caracas, a senior Venezuelan Foreign Ministry official, Mari Pili
Hernandez, criticized the expulsion of Figueredo. Whereas Correa had engaged in
spying, she said, Figueredo had done nothing wrong.
"This is a political retaliation. This is not reciprocity," she said. "It is
very important to clarify that the situations are not at all comparable."
The tit-for-tat expulsions marked another chapter in the steady decay of
U.S.-Venezuelan relations under Chavez, who has warned repeatedly that
Washington has plans to invade Venezuela.
The U.S. ambassador to Venezuela, William Brownfield, expressed concern over
the deterioration in relations.
"I lament, and my government laments, that bilateral relations have reached
this point," Brownfield said in an interview with Globovision TV. "There are
many serious and important issues between our governments that perhaps deserve
more of our time."
On Thursday, US Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld drew a parallel between
Chavez and Adolf Hitler.
"He's a person who was elected legally — just as Adolf Hitler was elected
legally — and then consolidated power," Rumsfeld said in a National Press Club
appearance.
McCormack did not repeat the comparison with Hitler on Friday but
acknowledged U.S. concern about the way Venezuela is governed.
"It has, we believe, been governed in a nondemocratic way," McCormack said.
Still, he said, the United States "stands ready to work with the Venezuelan
government on a variety of different issues. We have a positive agenda for the
hemisphere. We stand ready to work with them on counternarcotics efforts."
McCormack said the U.S. expulsion of the Venezuelan diplomat was a direct
response to the action taken against Correa.
"They initiated this and we were forced to respond," he said. Pentagon
spokesman Lt. Col. Mark Ballesteros said Correa has returned to the United
States.
The U.S. Embassy in Caracas denied that Correa or any military attache
colleague has done anything wrong.
Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said Friday his government will
present proof of the spying charges.
Rangel also hit back at Rumsfeld, calling President Bush "the North American
Hitler."
Chavez warned that if he uncovers any more evidence of alleged espionage, he
will throw out the entire U.S. military mission. The embassy has 21 military
personnel in Venezuela.
The Venezuelan leader arrived in Cuba on Friday to meet his close ally Fidel
Castro and accept UNESCO's 2005 International Jose Marti
Prize.
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