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Tuesday, 30 June _Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has expelled the European Union (EU)’s envoy to the country following a move by the bloc to impose new sanctions against several Venezuelan officials.
The EU on Monday placed financial sanctions on 11 Venezuelan officials, saying they were responsible for measures taken against opposition figures in Venezuela, including what the bloc called “politically-motivated” prosecutions.
Hours after the sanctions announcement, Maduro gave the EU envoy, Isabel Brilhante Pedrosa, 72 hours to leave the Latin American country.
“A plane can be loaned to her to leave,” he said in an address on state television.
Earlier this month, the bloc had condemned the January election of Luis Parra as speaker of the Venezuelan National Assembly as “illegitimate,” saying opposition figure Juan Guaido remained the rightful congressional speaker.
Parra, who was approved by Venezuela’s Supreme Court as speaker in May, was among the 11 individuals targeted with the new sanctions. So were his two deputies, Franklyn Duarte and Jose Gregorio Noriega.
The European Council had also earlier condemned a decision by the Supreme Court to reshuffle the composition of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) on June 16.
Venezuela had earlier warned the EU to stop meddling in its internal affairs.
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