CARACAS, Venezuela — The United States said Monday that it had expelled two Venezuelan diplomats in response to the ouster last week of two American military attachés by Venezuela.
“Around the world, when our people are thrown out unjustly, we’re going to take reciprocal action,” Victoria Nuland, the State Department spokeswoman, said at a news conference. “And we need to do that to protect our own people.”
She said that the two Venezuelan diplomats had already left the country. The State Department identified them as Orlando José Montañez Olivares, a second secretary at the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, and Víctor Camacaro Mata, a consular officer in New York.