Venezuela: Nicolas Maduro suspends order to expel American diplomatic personnel

The government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has halted its order to United States Embassy personnel to leave the country, AP reported.

The move was aimed at defusing the country’s tensions with Washington DC just and it came hours after diplomats dicussed the political crisis in the country at a special UN Security Council meeting on the South American country’s crisis.

On Wednesday, Maduro cut diplomatic ties with the United States and gave American diplomatic personnel 72 hours to leave the country after the Donald Trump administration recognised Opposition leader Juan Guaidó’s claims to the presidency. In response, the United States had refused to recognise Maduro’s legal authority to “break diplomatic relations”.

Maduro’s government suspended the expulsion of diplomats and said it would attempt to negotiate with the Trump administration over the next month on setting up a “US interests office” in Venezuela and a similar Venezuelan office in the United States. The US and Cuba had a similar arrangement for decades before the Barack Obama administration restored diplomatic relations with the island nation.

Meanwhile, Guaidó on Saturday said he had talked to government officials about the need for new elections, Reuters reported. The Opposition leader, who has declared himself interim president, said he was interested in talking to anybody, civilian or military, who would support ending Maduro’s “usurpation” of power and back a transtion transition government and free elections.