President Nicolas Maduro said he'll file a formal protest
and review relations with Washington following a report of U.S. spying on
Venezuela's state oil company, including intercepting the calls and emails of
ex-Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez.
Maduro cited a report published Wednesday by the news outlet
"The Intercept" based on a March 2011 article in an internal U.S.
National Security Agency newsletter it said was obtained by leaker Edward
Snowden.
Maduro said on national television that he was ordering an
investigation and that U.S. charge d'affaires Lee McClenny would be called in
to file a formal protest. The U.S. and Venezuela have not had ambassadors in
each others capitals since 2010.
"I have ordered our foreign minister to begin an
integral review of our relation with the U.S. government," said Maduro, a
fierce critic of U.S. foreign policy.
Telesur, a regional television network financed by
Venezuela, said it obtained a copy of the NSA document, which purportedly shows
that U.S. intelligence spied on internal communications of the state oil
company PDVSA all the way up to Ramirez.
No comments:
Post a Comment