U.S. pulls some diplomatic staff from Venezuela amid crisis

The U.S. State Department late Thursday ordered nonessential government staff to leave Venezuela, citing security concerns, and asked U.S. citizens to “strongly consider” evacuating. Embattled President Nicolás Maduro on Wednesday gave a 72-hour deadline for all U.S. diplomats to leave the country, but Washington refused since it no longer recognizes Maduro’s leadership. Maduro pulled all Venezuelan diplomats out of the United States and closed its embassy in Washington, D.C., after the United States and several other nations backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who declared himself interim president on Wednesday. In a live address Thursday, Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino accused the opposition, the United States, and other countries that backed Guaidó of planning a coup. “It is not civil war, a war between brothers that will solve the problems of Venezuela,” he said. “It is dialogue.”

Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell on Friday said Spain will ask the European Union to formally back Guaidó if Maduro does not call for elections by a yet-to-be-decided deadline. “We are trying to look for a solution that avoids confrontation and more deaths,” he said.