Reduce Embassy Staff. Venezuela Tells U.S

CARACAS, Venezuela — With diplomatic relations
fraying rapidly between the United States and
Venezuela, the government of President Nicolás
Maduro has given the American Embassy here 15
days to come up with a plan to drastically shrink
its staff, Venezuela’s foreign minister announced
Monday.

Mr. Maduro has repeatedly accused the United
States of supporting a plot to overthrow him, and
on Saturday he announced a series of diplomatic
measures that he said were intended to halt
American meddling.

He said the United States would have to reduce
the number of officials at its embassy to a
number similar to the staff at the Venezuelan
Embassy in Washington. He said there were 100
American officials here and just 17 Venezuelan
officials in Washington, although those numbers
have not been verified by the State Department.

“Regarding the reduction to 17 officials with
which the Embassy of the United States in
Venezuela must operate, they were given 15 days
to present a plan as to the classification and rank
of the officials that will remain,” the foreign
minister, Delcy Rodríguez, said at a news conference.

She said the change was in keeping with “the
reciprocity that should govern relations between
sovereign states.” The United States denies Mr.
Maduro’s claim that it is involved in any plan to
overthrow him, saying he is seeking to deflect
attention from the country’s worsening economic crisis.

Mr. Maduro also said Saturday that Americans
traveling to Venezuela would now need visas to
enter the country and that they would have to
pay a fee equal to what Venezuelans pay for a
visa to the United States.

Mr. Maduro’s anti-Washington language was
tamped down for several weeks after the
surprise diplomatic opening between the United
States and Cuba, a close ally of the Caracas
government.

But last month, as pressure grew on Mr. Maduro
to address the country’s many economic ills, he
once again stepped up accusations against the
United States.