"The Yankee ambassador to Caracas has 72 hours to leave Venezuela, in solidarity with Bolivia, with the Bolivian people, and with the Bolivian government," Chavez said. His action came just hours after the United States ordered Bolivia's ambassador to leave Washington DC, a move that was in response to Bolivia asking the US ambassador to leave on Wednesday.
Follow all that?
Bolivia's President Evo Morales accused the US ambassador of plotting with opposition leaders to undermine his rule and to even break up Bolivia. Several people have been killed in recent days in fighting between pro and anti-Morales factions in one of Bolivia's provinces, and a suspicious blast shut down one of the country's main natural gas pipelines, cutting their gas exports - natural gas is one of Bolivia's main exports, and the source of much of the country's revenue.
Chavez has long had a prickly relationship with the United States, and accused the CIA of trying to overthrow him in an attempted coup. Recently, he signed a $2 billion deal with Russia for weapons and signed deals with Russian companies to work on Venezuela's oil fields (Venezuela is the United States 4th largest supplier of oil). On Thursday Russian long-range bombers landed in Venezuela as part of a military exercise between the two countries. Chavez has said that Venezuela is Russia's most important partner in the region.
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