By John Sexton  

In the latest of a series of tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has ordered the US ambassador to Caracas to leave the country. On Wednesday Bolivian President Evo Morales ordered US ambassador Phillip Goldberg to leave La Paz, accusing him of instigating violent protests by opponents of the president’s reform program. On Thursday, Washington retaliated by ordering the Bolivian ambassador to leave.

In other developments, two Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers have arrived in Venezuela to take part in military training exercises, in a move thought to be, in part, a Russian response to American use of warships to transport aid to Georgia.

In a televised speech on Wednesday President Chavez accused the US government of reactivating plans to kill him.  

(China.org.cn September 12, 2008)