Washington will recall this week all the remaining employees of the US Embassy in Venezuela. The Secretary of state Michael Pompeo said about this on Tuesday on Twitter.

“The US will withdraw all remaining staff from the Embassy in Venezuela this week,” he wrote. “This decision reflects the deterioration of the situation in Venezuela, as well as the conclusion that the presence of diplomatic personnel in the Embassy has become an obstacle to Washington’s policy.”

The US authorities have previously stated that they do not intend to withdraw the staff of their mission, but recommended that American citizens leave the South American Republic because of the internal political crisis. How many American diplomats are still in Caracas is not specified.

On January 23, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Gaido, whose appointment as speaker of Parliament had been cancelled two days earlier by the country’s Supreme Court, declared himself the acting President. On the same day, the interim head of state was recognized by the United States, they were joined by members of the group Lima (except Mexico), the Organization of American States, a number of other countries. The current head of state Nicolas Maduro called the incident a coup attempt and announced the severance of diplomatic relations with the United States.