Venezuela expels diplomats from Latin American nations that questioned Maduro reelection

The Nicolás Maduro regime expelled on Monday the diplomatic missions of seven Latin American nations that expressed concerns over the results announced on Sunday of the country’s presidential election.

Calling the comments on the election made by leaders in these neighboring countries “interventionist acts,” Maduro’s Foreign Minister Yván Gil ordered the diplomatic personnel from Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Perú, Panamá, the Dominican Republican and Uruguay to leave Venezuela immediately.

“Venezuela reserves all legal and political rights to enforce, preserve and defend our inalienable right to self-determination,” the Maduro government said in a press release. “We will confront all actions that threaten the climate of peace and coexistence” inside the South American nation.

In a controversial announcement, the regime-controlled National Electorate Council announced on Sunday that Maduro had won the election over opposition candidate Edmundo González even though exit polls from credible independent firms had been showing that the Venezuelan strongman had lost the election by a margin of two to one.

The council said Maduro won the election with 51.1% of the vote, surpassing González’s 44%. But opposition leaders said the official numbers they had gathered and the exit poll numbers had the Venezuelan presidential candidate winning by more than 65% of the vote.

Opposition parties accused the regime of committing a fraud of gigantic proportions, while officials in Washington said they did not believe that the numbers announced by the Caracas regime reflected the actual voting.

Similar comments were also made by officials from the countries whose diplomatic missions were expelled on Monday, some of which called for a meeting at the Organization of American States to analyze the situation in Venezuela.

The United States and Venezuela currently don’t have diplomatic relations.