Venezuela expels Panama ambassador, three others

Demonstrators prepare to throw molotov bombs against Bolivarian National Police officers during clashes in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, March 6, 2014. A National Guardsman and a civilian were killed earlier today in a clash between residents of a Caracas neighborhood and armed men who tried to remove a barricade, Venezuelan officials said. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

PANAMA CITY—The Venezuelan government declared Panama’s ambassador and three other diplomats “persona non grata” Thursday, saying they must leave the country within 48 hours, a Panamanian official said.

Just a day after Caracas broke ties with Panama City, Panama’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mayra Arosemena said “we received a note from the foreign ministry of Venezuela that was delivered to our embassy in which it declared four people working in our embassy as ‘persona non grata.'”

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