Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
WASHINGTON – The United States will withdraw its remaining diplomatic staff from the embassy in Caracas as the crisis in Venezuela worsens, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said late Monday.
“This decision reflects the deteriorating situation in #Venezuela as well as the conclusion that the presence of US diplomatic staff at the embassy has become a constraint on US policy,” Pompeo wrote on Twitter.
On January 24, the State Department ordered all non-emergency US government employees to depart Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro is facing a stiff challenge for power from opposition leader Juan Guaido amid an acute economic crisis.
That day the department also urged Americans living in Venezuela to consider leaving. /kga