The Maduro government has formally notified the State Department that it would give the top two American diplomats 48 hours to leave Venezuela.
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that the State Department would likely respond “proportionately” to the Venezuelan government’s decision this week to expel the top American diplomat from Caracas.
Mr. Pompeo said the State Department received the formal notification on Wednesday morning that Todd D. Robinson, who is the United States Embassy’s chargé d’affaires, was being expelled.
He said that the State Department has also been told that another diplomat was being expelled.
“We will respond appropriately, certainly reciprocally, but perhaps more than that, perhaps proportionately,” Mr. Pompeo said during testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
In a televised address on Tuesday, President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela said he had ordered Mr. Robinson and his deputy, Brian Naranjo, expelled, describing them as conspirators against his government. He gave them 48 hours to leave, declaring them both persona non grata.
Venezuela and the United States have not exchanged ambassadors since 2010, part of a serious decline in relations.
On Sunday, Mr. Maduro won re-election in an election widely decried as a sham.
“We’re watching the Maduro regime continue to engage in destructive behavior for the Venezuelan people,” Mr. Pompeo said on Wednesday.
