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US to 'expel Venezuelan envoy' US sanctions Venezuela officials
(20 minutes later)
The US plans to expel Venezuela's ambassador, officials say, in retaliation for Venezuela's expulsion of the US ambassador to Caracas. The US Treasury has announced sanctions on two senior Venezuelan officials it accuses of aiding Colombian rebels, in an escalating diplomatic row.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Thursday that US representative Patrick Duddy had 72 hours to leave. The US said Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios and Henry de Jesus Rangel Silva were "materially assisting the [Farc rebels'] narcotics trafficking".
He said the measure was in solidarity with ally Bolivia, which has also been involved in a tit-for-tat expulsion of ambassadors with Washington. The move comes as US officials revealed plans to expel Venezuela's ambassador after Caracas expelled the US envoy.
Bolivia said the US envoy was inciting protests against President Evo Morales. The US has also engaged in tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions with Bolivia.
"The plan is to kick him out," a US official, who did not want to be named, said of the Venezuelan ambassador to Reuters news agency. On Thursday, President Hugo Chavez gave US ambassador Patrick Duddy 72 hours to leave Caracas, telling him: "Go to hell 100 times."
On Thursday, Mr Chavez said he was recalling his envoy to the US, after telling the American ambassador: "Go to hell 100 times." Mr Chavez said the move was in solidarity with his ally Bolivia, which also kicked out its US envoy after accusing him of inciting violent protests against President Evo Morales.
BBC South America correspondent Daniel Schweimler says the spat between oil-exporting Venezuela and the US is in neither side's interest.
The US is a politically influential leading trade partner and a major aid donor to Latin America, so few in the region will be happy relations have plummeted to this new low, says our correspondent.