US orders expulsion of Venezuelan consul

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US orders expulsion of Venezuelan consul

By Jim Mannion | AFP – 15 minutes ago

The United States has ordered the expulsion of Venezuela's consul general in

Miami amid reports linking the diplomat to an alleged Iranian plot to target

sensitive US facilities with cyber attacks, the US State Department said Sunday.

The US action comes as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was to kick off a

Latin American tour in Caracas later Sunday.

The Venezuelan embassy in Washington was notified Friday that Livia Acosta

Noguera, the consul general, had been declared persona non grata and had until

Tuesday to leave the country, said State Department spokesman Ostick.

" In accordance with Article 23 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations,

the department declared Ms Livia Acosta Noguera, Venezuelan consul general to

Miami, to be persona non grata. As such, she must depart the United States by

January 10, " he said.

" We cannot comment on specific details behind the decision to declare Ms Acosta

persona non grata at this time, " he added in a statement.

The State Department had said last month it was looking into " very disturbing "

allegations that Acosta was a participant in an alleged Iranian plot to launch

cyber-attacks on sensitive US national security facilities.

The allegations were made in a documentary that aired on the Spanish-language

television network Univision, which said Acosta was taped discussing the alleged

plot with Mexican students who later sought asylum in the United States.

The contacts reportedly took place in 2007 while Acosta was serving at the

Venezuelan embassy in Mexico City.

On December 12, a State Department spokesman said the department could not

corroborate the Univision report, but said, " We're looking into it and continue

to assess what additional actions we might take. "

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has long been a vociferous opponent of

Washington, siding with Iran and Syria against US-led efforts to pressure Tehran

over its nuclear program and Damascus on human rights abuses.

Ahmadinejad's trip to Venezuela and three other leftist-ruled Latin American

countries -- Nicaragua, Ecuador and Cuba -- comes amid spiking international

tensions over Iran's nuclear program.

A preliminary agreement by the European Union to embargo Iranian oil shipments

has drawn Iranian threats to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz at the

entrance of the Gulf if it does.

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, meanwhile, warned Sunday that the United

States would not tolerate the closure of the strait and would respond to reopen

it.

In October, the United States accused Tehran of plotting to hire Mexican drug

traffickers to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States, which

Tehran dismissed as " baseless and unfounded. "