Chavez threatens to eject US envoy

Caracas, Jan 26: President Hugo Chavez threatened to eject the US ambassador if he meddled in Venezuela's affairs after the diplomat reportedly said the government must compensate companies it plans to nationalize.

The leftist president has pledged a wave of takeovers, including of U.S. companies' holdings in Venezuela, further straining frayed relations with the United States this month.

''If he keeps interfering in Venezuelan matters that do not concern him, showing Venezuelans disrespect, then he could be declared persona non grata and would have to leave the country,'' Chavez said during a speech about socialism.

Last year, diplomatic ties between the two countries reached a low point when they each ejected an official in a dispute involving Chavez's accusations of US espionage.

Although the United States is Venezuela's top customer for its vital oil sales, Chavez also angered many Americans by calling President George W Bush the devil at the United Nations in September.

Despite overtures from both sides to improve ties since Chavez's landslide re-election last month, the Venezuelan leader has maintained his anti-US harangues and pushed policies, such as nationalizing utilities, that worry Washington.

Yesterday, Ambassador William Brownfield was quoted by Venezuelan media as saying, ''Every government in the world is obliged to carry out nationalizations in a legal and transparent way and offer fair and prompt compensation.'' That appeared to be a response to Chavez, who said on Sunday he would not give any compensation for taking over the main telecommunications company until after its nationalization and even then would not pay a price based on foreign estimates of its value.

US-based Verizon has a leading stake in the Venezuelan utility CANTV.

REUTERS