U.S. says Venezuelan government interfering in new National Assembly

Reuters
President Nicolas Maduro talks to newly elected deputies from United Socialist Party (PSUV), during a meeting at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, in this handout picture provided by Miraflores Palace on December 21, 2015. REUTERS/Miraflores Palace/Handout via Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States expressed concern on Monday about what it said was interference by the Venezuelan government in the country's National Assembly, which convenes on Tuesday for its first session with an opposition majority in more than 16 years. "We are concerned by the Venezuelan government's efforts to interfere with the newly elected National Assembly exercising its constitutionally mandated duties," State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)