The United States is withdrawing the last of its embassy personnel from Venezuela, amid tensions with Venezuela’s president after he blamed the U.S. for the power outage that has crippled the country.
Venezuela is under a political and humanitarian crisis; the U.S. and other countries are attempting to oust socialist leader Nicolas Maduro, who maintains he won his country’s election fairly. The U.S. recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s leader. Maduro has charged that the U.S. is responsible for a power outage in the country that has crippled Venezuelans now for four days. Venezuelan reporters allege that at least 21 people are dead from the outage, including 15 kidney dialysis patients who were unable to receive treatment.
Explosions and looting have been rampant since the power outage began. Venezuelans interviewed by the press say they are without food and water for their children. Residents in Caracas were seen collecting sewage water to use and lining up for hours to charge their electric devices with few solar panels available.
The U.S. State Department said that the withdrawal of embassy personnel “reflects the deteriorating situation in Venezuela, as well as the conclusion that the presence of U.S. diplomatic staff at the embassy has become a constraint on U.S. policy.” No official timeline for complete withdrawal was given.
Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/us-withdrawing-remaining-staff-from-embassy-in-venezuela
