Venezuela has given three American diplomats from the US Embassy in Caracas 48 hours to exit the country amid accusations of conspiracy and inciting anti-government sentiment amongst students

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Venezuela has given three American diplomats from the US Embassy in Caracas 48 hours to exit the country amid accusations of conspiracy and inciting anti-government sentiment amongst students

US diplomats given 48 hours to leave Venezuela

Published time: February 17, 2014 22:41
Edited time: February 18, 2014 05:21

Students take part in an anti-government protest in Caracas on February 17, 2014. (AFP Photo / Juan Barreto)

Venezuela has given three American diplomats from the US Embassy in Caracas 48 hours to exit the country after President Nicolas Maduro leveled accusations of conspiracy and meeting with students to incite anti-government sentiment.
Following days of opposition protests, three unnamed diplomats were declared persona non grata by Maduro during a televised address on Sunday night. On Monday Venezuela’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Elias Jaua announced that the US diplomats in question were vice consuls Breann Marie McCusker and Jeffrey Elsen, and Kristofer Lee Clark, who holds the rank of second secretary at the US consulate.
Jaua said during a press conference that the three officials had assisted “groups that seek to generate violence in the country,” and that they had 48 hours to leave.
As evidence, Jaua cited email correspondence from US embassy officials in recent years that supposedly call for funding from Washington to support Venezuelan student groups, AP reported.
He added that the diplomats sought contacts “for the training, the financing and the creation of youth organizations to foment violence.”
"It's a group of US functionaries who are in the universities. We've been watching them having meetings in the private universities for two months. They work in visas," Maduro stated Sunday in a nationally televised broadcast.

Venenzuelan President Nicolas Maduro ( AFP Photo / Presidencia / Handout)

Last Wednesday, over 10,000 people poured onto the streets of Caracas to peacefully protest their growing worries, such as the country's high murder rate and a record-breaking 56 percent inflation.
At the end of Wednesday’s opposition protests, a group of students battled with security forces and pro-government militias, leaving three people dead. Maduro’s government blamed the violence on Harvard-educated opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, whom Maduro accuses of leading a US-backed "fascist" plot to oust the socialist government.
“There is a fascist group that abuses public freedoms and democracy to play politics and prepare to overthrow the government,” Maduro said.

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Venezuela gears up for more violence as Leopoldo López plans march

Opposition leader, who is wanted for arrest, calls on supporters to join him for anti-government demonstration in Caracas

Virginia López in Caracas and Jonathan Watts
theguardian.com, Tuesday 18 February 2014 11.49 EST

Anti-government students shout slogans during a protest in Caracas on Sunday. Photograph: Leo Ramirez/AFP/Getty Images

Venezuela is braced for fresh confrontations as a firebrand opposition leader rallies supporters to march with him through Caracas in defiance of a protest ban by President Nicolás Maduro.
The government has issued an arrest warrant for Leopoldo López, who is accused of "terrorism" for his alleged role in violent anti-government demonstrations across the country last week that left three dead.
Maduro says López has been conspiring to overthrow the government with the connivance of university students and the backing of the US, three of whose diplomats have received expulsion orders from Caracas in the past few days.
López – a former mayor of one of the capital's districts – has denied the accusations but says he will come out of hiding on Tuesday to face the charges.
"I have nothing to fear," the Harvard-educated politician said, in a defiant video address released on the internet. "I have committed no crime. I have been a Venezuelan with deep commitments toward my country and my people."
He has called on supporters to wear white as a symbol of peace and to stop short of the last part of his journey to the ministry of justice and interior, which was the focus of much of the worse unrest last week.
By 11am, many thousands – mostly clad in white – had started to gather on Avenida Francisco de Miranda.
There are fears of a repeat of the deadly clashes between opposition protesters, police and "colectivo" militia groups loyal to the Chavista government.

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