"I have made the decision to withdraw the ambassador of Venezuela in Washington, Maximilien Sanchez Arvelaiz," Maduro said on Wednesday, as quoted by Globovision TV.
In March 2015, US President Barack Obama issued an executive order imposing new sanctions against seven Venezuelan officials, freezing their assets and banning them from entering the United States. Obama described the "erosion" of human rights guarantees in Venezuela as an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to US security.
"If they [US] do not want anything to do with us, then why have an ambassador there," Maduro said on Wednesday.
Last week, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez announced that Venezuela would conduct a comprehensive review or its relations with the United States in the wake of a US decision to extend sanctions against the country’s officials.
Relations between Washington and Caracas have worsened recently over alleged human rights violations during protests in Venezuela’s capital against the government of President Nicolas Maduro in February of 2014.
