US To Withdraw Remaining Diplomatic Staffers from Venezuela - Pompeo

By Staff, Agencies

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday that the "presence of the US diplomatic staff" at the US Embassy in Venezuela "has become a constraint on US policy".

The decision to recall the remaining US diplomats reflects the "deteriorating situation" in the crisis-torn country, Pompeo claimed.

The US Agency for International Development [USAID] sent to Colombia last week additional humanitarian aid for Venezuela. According to the USAID, the supplies were transported by a US military C-130 cargo plane and include items such as emergency medical kits, medical supplies, and hygiene and food kits.

In late February, the Venezuelan opposition tried to force US-sponsored aid into the country through the borders with Colombia and Brazil. The failed attempt sparked clashes between Venezuelan officers, who prevented trucks from crossing without permission, and pro-aid protesters.

Maduro said Caracas would not accept the US aid and characterized Washington’s attempts to deliver alleged supplies to Venezuela as a violation of the country’s sovereignty.

Maduro accused opposition leader Juan Guaido of conspiring with the United States to overthrow the country’s legitimate government including by organizing the delivery of so-called humanitarian aid as part of a plan to justify US military intervention.

US Special Envoy for Venezuela Eliot Abrams told reporters during a briefing last Friday that Washington would not utilize military force in order to deliver humanitarian supplies to Venezuela.

Meanwhile, Venezuelan Ambassador to the UN Samuel Moncada said that Washington was arming Venezuelan defectors to form a so-called liberation army to invade the country.

Moncada stressed that the US was inflating figures that there are thousands of Venezuelan deserters because they are fabricating their own army similar to the US-backed Contra armies fighting against the Sandinista government in the Nicaragua Revolution in the 1980s.