CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordered his Foreign Ministry to reduce the number of officials allowed to work at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas as tensions mount between the two countries.
U.S. officials who remain will be required to obtain approval for any meetings they hold in the country, Maduro said Saturday on state television. He presented a folder during the speech that he said contained evidence embassy officials were working to destabilize the South American country.
"I have the proof here," Maduro said after a pro-government march in Caracas. "Videos, audio recordings and testimonies of the illegal, conspiratory activities of various functionaries of the U.S. government. I've thought about it very well. It's for our homeland, our sovereignty."
A U.S. embassy official in Caracas declined to immediately comment Saturday after Maduro's speech. The U.S. State Department said last month that accusations it was involved in coup plotting were "baseless and false" and an attempt to distract attention from the country's economic woes.
Also, U.S. citizens who travel to Venezuela now will be required to obtain visas, Maduro said, and some current and former U.S. officials will be banned from entering the country. They include former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney, former director of central intelligence George Tenet and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.
A Section on 03/01/2015