Venezuelan president expels US ambassador amid US-Bolivia tension

Chavez alleges that the US is plotting a military coup against him after Morales blames Washington for upheavals in eastern Bolivia. The US, however, denies these claims.

By Arthur Bright

from the September 13, 2008 edition

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez expelled the United States ambassador to Venezuela Thursday amid accusations by Chavez and Bolivian President Evo Morales that Washington is plotting to overthrow their governments. The accusations follow deadly clashes earlier this week in Bolivia between government forces and opposition militants. Bolivia on Wednesday accused the US of supporting opposition groups in the country's eastern regions.

The New York Times reports that Chavez announced Thursday that his government had discovered a US plot to kill him in a military coup and, as a result, was giving US Ambassador Patrick Duddy 72 hours to leave the country.

He also recalled his ambassador to Washington, Bernardo Álvarez, and explained his decision by expressing solidarity with Bolivia's embattled president, Evo Morales, who on Wednesday expelled the American ambassador there, Philip S. Goldberg, accusing him of supporting rebellious groups in eastern Bolivia. The State Department responded by saying it was declaring Bolivia's ambassador to Washington persona non grata.

"When there is a new government in the United States, we'll send an ambassador," Mr. Chávez said, using an expletive to refer to Americans.

The move by Mr. Chávez marks a low point in political relations with the United States, which imported more than $40 billion in oil from Venezuela last year. Trade between the countries has remained resilient, topping $50 billion in 2007, despite repeated threats by Mr. Chávez to halt oil exports to the United States, a warning he reiterated on Thursday.

Venezuelan TV aired tapes on Wednesday of phone conversations among current and former Venezuelan military officials, which purportedly referred to the coup. The New York Times also notes that Chavez "has claimed at least 26 times in the last six years that there were plots to kill him."

The Guardian reports that none of the military officials mentioned as suspects in the coup appear to have been charged, nor has Caracas provided any evidence of US involvement. The US has denied Chavez's claims.

The coup accusations come amid heightened diplomatic tensions between Bolivia's Morales, a Chavez ally, and the US. Bloomberg reports that Morales expelled US Ambassador Philip Goldberg from Bolivia on Wednesday, accusing him of supporting opposition groups in eastern Bolivia. Bolivia's eastern provinces, which contain much of the country's energy resources, have been seeking greater autonomy from La Paz, while Morales has attempted to redistribute their wealth among Bolivia's poor indigenous peoples. The US said that Morales's charges were "baseless," and expelled Bolivia's ambassador to the US in response to Goldberg's expulsion.

The rupture may weaken U.S. support to renew trade preferences for Bolivian imports that expire at the end of this year and prompt Morales to rely more on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for economic and political support.

The fissure could also undermine U.S. efforts to reduce the cultivation of coca, the main ingredient in cocaine. The land- locked nation, South America's poorest country, is the third- biggest producer of coca after Colombia and Peru.

The U.S. imported $363 million worth of goods from Bolivia in 2007 and exported $278 million, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Bolivia's gross domestic product was about $13 billion last year, according to Bloomberg data.

Morales's accusations came after anti-government protestors ransacked government offices and seized oil facilities and airports on Tuesday, reports Agence France-Presse. Morales's spokesman, Ivan Canelas, said the violence was creating conditions for "a sort of civil war."

CNN reports that further clashes Thursday between pro-autonomy militants and government supporters in eastern Bolivia left at least eight dead and 30 wounded, according to Hugo Mopi, a spokesman for the governor of Pando, a region near the Brazilian border. Similar clashes were reported in Tarija.

In the southeastern province of Tarija, near the border with Argentina, 88 people were wounded in similar clashes, Tarija government officials said Thursday.

Also in Tarija, where most of the country's natural gas comes from, autonomy supporters blew up a pipeline, resulting in $8 million in losses of exports to Argentina and Brazil, the officials said. It will take 15 to 20 days to fix the pipeline, they said.

But that may not be the only pipeline interruption. Pro-autonomy groups seized control of a pipeline valve in the nearby town of Yacuiba, also in Tarija.

The unrest in Bolivia has concerned Brazil, which relies heavily on natural gas exports from the country, reports Reuters. A Brazilian official called the protestors' actions terrorism and stated Brazil's support for Morales's government.

"We won't tolerate a rupture in the constitutional order of Bolivia," Marco Aurelio Garcia, foreign policy adviser to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, told a news conference.

"Brazil will not recognize any attempt at a government that would substitute a constitutional government in Bolivia," Garcia said when asked whether this meant Brazil would send troops to aid the Bolivian government of President Evo Morales.