Diplomatic staff at the Venezuelan Embassy in Bolivia left the country on Sunday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said.
“Forty-eight hours ago, I ordered all diplomatic personnel to leave the country”, – Maduro said during a speech at a book fair, announcing their return. According to the President of Venezuela, embassy employees received personal threats, and they threatened to take the building by storm and burn it.
On November 15, Bolivian interim Foreign Minister Karen Longarik declared Venezuelan diplomats persona non-grata for interfering in the country’s internal affairs and announced her withdrawal from the Bolivarian Alliance of American Peoples of America, and also suspended Sacha Llorenty and 80% of the country’s ambassadors from work at the UN .
President of Bolivia, Janine Agnes, previously called the leader of Venezuela illegally proclaimed himself the interim head of state of the opposition leader Juan Guaido, who promised in the coming days to appoint new “diplomatic representatives” of Venezuela in Bolivia.
The entire top leadership of Bolivia, led by President Evo Morales, resigned on November 10 and left the country amid popular protests after the presidential election. The chairs were left, including the speaker and the first vice speaker of the Senate. The presidential powers temporarily passed to the opposition second vice-speaker of the Senate, Janine Agnes. Proponents of Morales dispute the transfer of authority to Agnes and demand her resignation.
In Venezuela on January 21, mass protests began against President Nicolas Maduro shortly after being sworn in. The head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, Juan Guaido, illegally proclaimed himself the interim head of state. A number of Western countries, including Brazil and the United States, have declared recognition of Guaido. In turn, Maduro called the head of parliament a US puppet. Russia, China, Turkey and several other countries supported Maduro as a legitimate president. In Moscow, they called the “presidential status” of Guaido nonexistent.