BUENOS AIRES — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday that he was expelling the U.S. ambassador in the latest escalation of tensions between Washington and Latin American leftists.
The move came a day after Bolivian President Evo Morales, a close Chavez ally, accused the U.S. envoy in his country of fostering divisions and ordered him to leave.
On Thursday, chaos worsened in Bolivia as clashes between government sympathizers and opponents in a remote province left at least eight dead and dozens injured. And Washington retaliated for the expulsion of Ambassador Philip S. Goldberg by telling Bolivia's ambassador, Gustavo Guzman, to leave.
In a speech laced with obscenities directed at the United States, Chavez told a cheering crowd that he acted in solidarity with Morales. Earlier, he said his country would come to Morales' aid if "Yankee stooges" tried to oust him.
Chavez and the Bush administration have been bitter rivals for years. Although this latest step signals a further deterioration, it is not clear how the expulsions will affect the region's political and economic stability.
Washington will continue to have diplomatic relations with Venezuela and Bolivia, at least for now. And Venezuela remains a major source of oil for the U.S.
On Thursday, Chavez renewed threats to cut off supplies should Washington launch "some aggression" against Venezuela, but stopped well short of stopping sales.
Still, expulsions of U.S. ambassadors are relatively rare and the moves shocked the region.
"This is a highly symbolic gesture," said Eduardo Gamarra, a professor at Florida International University in Miami. "And they're doing it at a time when no one in Washington is paying much attention to Latin America."
For years, the administration has sought to play down suggestions that an anti-U.S. leftist bloc was forming in Latin America while the White House was preoccupied in the Middle East. U.S. officials have contended that Washington would be making a mistake to overreact to Chavez.
But Morales and Chavez have been eager to prove that they pose a serious regional challenge. This week, the Venezuelans moved a step further by allowing Russian long-range bombers to visit a base, suggesting that greater military contacts might be ahead.
Venezuela and Bolivia have also reached out to Iran, angering Washington.
