US Expels Venezuelan Diplomats

A tit-for-tat measure copying Venezuela's actions

The Obama administration is expelling Venezuela's top diplomat and two subordinates in retaliation for the expulsion of three American diplomats in Caracas.

Less than a day after the Venezuelan government accused the Americans of plotting sabotage, the State Department on Tuesday said it had notified Venezuelan charge d'affaires Calixto Ortega Rios and two others in the embassy in Washington that they must leave the United States in 48 hours.

The Venezuelan government said American charge d'affairs Kelly Keiderling and the embassy's political and consular officers had improperly met with the political opposition and had plotted sabotage of the power grid in Bolivar state.