U.S. expels Venezuelan diplomats in tit-for-tat move over unrest

[Bacchus4.0]

Source: Reuters

The United States on Tuesday ordered three Venezuelan diplomats to leave in reprisal for President Nicolas Maduro's expulsion of three American embassy staff accused of fomenting unrest that has killed at least 13 people.

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When it comes to oil, though, pragmatism trumps politics and the United States remains the OPEC member's main export market.

The U.S. State Department said in a statement that two first secretaries and a second secretary at the Venezuelan embassy in Washington had been declared personae non gratae in response to Caracas' February 17 move against the three Americans.

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Venezuela and the United States have been without ambassadors since 2008, and Maduro expelled the three last week on accusations of recruiting students to protest against him.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/25/us-venezuela-protests-idUSBREA1O12B20140225

[Vattel]

1. I wish I could believe that we were not fomenting unrest there.

But with all the lying our political leaders as SOP, who knows?

[Archae]

3. We don't need to "foment unrest" in VN.

Maduro and his incompetence and corruption is doing just fine getting the people pissed off on their own.

Maduro just needs to do like his buddy Mugabe in Zimbabwe does, issue decrees that just just make things worse, and send out more goon squads to kill and beat up the opposition.

Maduro has plenty of "He can do no wrong and is so dreamy!" groupies here in the US.

[Vattel]

4. I have not been following events in Venezuela; so you may well be right.

Still, it is sad that when our government denies wrongdoing, that by itself gives us no reason to think there was no wrongdoing.

[Archae]

5. I know, we have been lied to so many times.

[Tarheel_Dem]

2. Good.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

6. Not good, not bad, ...

... it's just a sort of diplomatic symmetry.

Tradition.