Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
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September 13, 2008

US Expels Venezuelan Ambassador
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1E2CA99:A6F02AD83191E1609DDBAB04A1B2111830EB2FA2E66CBB22&
 
State Department spokesman said US has also slapped sanctions on
Venezuelan officials for allegedly supplying arms and helping drug
traffickers in South America 
The United States has told Venezuela that its ambassador to Washington
will be expelled in the latest chapter of a growing diplomatic dispute.
The U.S. also slapped sanctions on Venezuelan officials for allegedly
supplying arms and helping drug traffickers in South America. VOA
correspondent Meredith Buel reports from Washington.

       State Department spokesman Sean Mc Cormack The U.S. State
Department announced the expulsion of the Venezuelan ambassador one day
after ordering Bolivia's ambassador to leave the country.

 The actions came after Bolivian President Evo Morales ordered U.S.
ambassador Philip Goldberg to leave, accusing him of contributing to
divisions within the country.

 On Thursday Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ordered the U.S.
ambassador in Caracas to leave, a move he said was designed to show
solidarity with Bolivia.

 State Department spokesman Sean Mc Cormack called the decisions by the
two Latin American governments regrettable. "This reflects the weakness
and desperation of these leaders as they face internal challenges and an
inability to communicate effectively internationally in order to build
international support. The charges leveled against our fine ambassadors
by the leaders of Bolivia and Venezuela are false and the leaders of
those countries know it," he said.

 Mc Cormack says the actions taken by Venezuela and Bolivia are hurting
their people and isolating them from the rest of the world. "No country
has ever improved the well-being of its citizens by antagonizing
neighbors and refraining from fruitful integration with the world's
democracies. Those who shout the loudest are not making the real news in
the Americas," he said.

 The latest diplomatic dispute came on the same day the U.S. accused two
senior Venezuelan government officials and a former official of aiding
Colombian rebels.

 The Treasury Department accused the officials of supplying weapons and
protecting drug shipments for members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces
of Colombia, known as the FARC. 

 The U.S. froze assets of the three and prohibited Americans from
conducting business transactions involving those assets.

 The United States has designated the FARC as a terrorist group.


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