Venezuela’s Chavez threatens to expel US ambassador

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened to
expel the U.S. ambassador in a dispute over drug-trafficking that could worsen
already frayed ties between the South American nation and its biggest oil
customer.

Chavez, who spars with the United States over everything from oil prices and
free trade to democracy, has made similar threats before without following
through on them.


This time, he was responding to U.S. criticism that Venezuela should do more
to stop cocaine flowing through the country from neighboring Colombia, the
world’s No. 1 exporter of the drug.

Chavez ended formal anti-drugs work with the United States in 2005 and
refuses to renew a cooperation accord.

“We are not going to accept interference in our internal affairs,” Chavez
said on his weekly TV program on Sunday. “If you violate international norms,
then you would have to leave this country … You might have to grab your
suitcases and get out of Venezuela, so choose your words more carefully your
excellency, Mr. Ambassador.”

Reuters