Venezuela's Chavez says US ambassador must leave

[Moorbey]

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez ordered the U.S. ambassador to
leave Venezuela within 72 hours on Thursday, accusing the diplomat of
conspiring against his government and saying he would also withdraw his
own envoy from Washington immediately.
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Chavez made the move in solidarity with Bolivia after his Andean ally
expelled the U.S. diplomat there, accusing him of aiding violent protests.
He said a new American ambassador will not be welcome in Caracas "until
there's a U.S. government that respects the people of Latin America,"
suggesting that diplomatic relations will be scaled back until President
Bush leaves the White House.

"They're trying to do here what they were doing in Bolivia," Chavez said,
accusing Washington of trying to oust him.

"That's enough ... from you, Yankees," Chavez said, using an expletive.
Waving his fists in the air, he added: "I hold the government of the
United States responsible for being behind all the conspiracies against
our nations!"

Holding up a watch to check the time, Chavez declared: "From this moment,
the Yankee ambassador in Caracas has 72 hours to leave Venezuela!" He told
his foreign minister to recall Venezuela's ambassador to Washington,
Bernardo Alvarez, "before they kick him out of there."

The U.S. Embassy said it was aware of Chavez's speech but had not received
official notification. Embassy spokeswoman Robin Holzhauer said Ambassador
Patrick Duddy is traveling in the United States this week.

The diplomatic spat brings relations between the two countries to a new
low and raises questions about whether it could hurt trade. Venezuela is
the fourth-largest oil supplier to the United States, and Chavez also
threatened to cut off crude shipments "if there's any aggression against
Venezuela."

Chavez has threatened to stop selling oil to the United States on a number
of occasions. But the U.S. is Venezuela's No. 1 oil client, and taking
such an action would debilitate his government financially.

Duddy, who was posted in Venezuela just last year, irritated Chavez last
month when he lamented that U.S. and Venezuelan officials have not been
cooperating in fighting drug trafficking. Deteriorating relations were
giving cocaine smugglers the upper hand, he said.

The socialist president responded by warning that Duddy could soon be
"packing his bags."

Simmering tensions between Venezuela and the U.S. began heating up even
more this week after two Russian strategic bombers were deployed to the
country at Chavez's invitation.

"The presence of those Russian planes in Venezuela is a warning," Chavez
said Thursday. "There's nothing better to keep yourself from being
attacked than to dissuade."

Hours before announcing the ambassador's expulsion, Chavez said his
government had detained a group of alleged conspirators in a plot to
overthrow him. He accused the group of active and former military officers
of trying to assassinate him with backing from the United States.

Chavez has repeatedly accused Washington of backing plots to have him
killed or ousted — and U.S. officials have repeatedly denied the
allegations.

____

Associated Press writers Ian James and Fabiola Sanchez contributed to this
report.