WASHINGTON 12 Mar (ANA) - The US will withdraw all diplomatic staff from Venezuela this week due to the "deteriorating situation" there, the state department has announced.

 

In a tweet, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said having staff in Caracas had "become a constraint on US policy".

 

The US ordered all non-essential staff to leave Venezuela in January amid an ongoing diplomatic crisis.

 

Widespread power cuts and a worsening humanitarian crisis have sparked mass protests.

 

The decision to vacate the embassy came late on Monday and followed critical comments Mr Pompeo made to reporters about Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

 

Relations between the two countries have plummeted in recent months.

 

US President Donald Trump backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó as president after he declared himself interim leader on 23 January. Venezuela then broke off diplomatic relations in response.

 

Mr Maduro gave US diplomats 72 hours to leave the country but the US said the "former president" no longer had the authority to order them out.

 

"Nicolás Maduro promised Venezuelans a better life in a socialist paradise," Mr Pompeo said on Monday. "He delivered on the socialism part... the paradise part? Not so much."

 

But in a televised address, Mr Maduro blamed the continuing power cuts on foreign sabotage.

 

"The United States' imperialist government ordered this attack," he said, without offering evidence.(ANA)

FA/ANA/12 March 2019--------