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Venezuela Hits Back at Sanctions by Expelling U.S. Envoys

Trump punished country for discredited election.

Venezuela has expelled the two most senior U.S. envoys in the country after the Trump administration hit it with new sanctions as a punishment for its widely criticized election. President Nicolas Maduro held on to power in an election Sunday that was overshadowed by an opposition boycott and claims of widespread vote-rigging. Trump responded to the discredited election Monday with an executive order limiting Venezuela’s ability to sell state assets. Accusing the U.S. chief diplomat in Venezuela, Todd Robinson, of being involved in “a military conspiracy,” Maduro ordered him and another senior diplomat, Brian Naranjo, to leave within 48 hours. “Neither with conspiracies nor with sanctions will you hold Venezuela back,” Maduro said Tuesday. The U.S. State Department rejected Maduro’s “false allegations” against the two senior diplomats.