Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has thrust the Opec nation into its worst diplomatic crisis for years by expelling the US ambassador in a growing feud between Washington and Latin America's leftist leaders.
Mr Chavez, who calls ex-Cuban leader Fidel Castro his mentor, also yesterday repeated a threat he has made often to cut off Venezuela's oil supply to the United States.
"Go to hell, shit Yankees, we are a dignified people, go to hell a hundred times," Mr Chavez shouted at a political rally to thousands of roaring supporters dressed in red.
The US Treasury Department today froze the assets of two Venezuelan government officials, saying they have ties with the rebel group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).
The department has designated current officials Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios and Henry de Jesus Rangel Silva and former official Ramon Rodriguez Chacin under US sanctions aimed at squeezing major foreign drug traffickers and prohibited US firms or individuals from doing business with them.
Mr Chavez is the most radical of a growing number of leftist governments in Latin America that to a greater or lesser degree oppose Washington's traditional dominance in Latin America.
Venezuela has some of the largest oil reserves outside the Middle East and despite Mr Chavez's clashes with the Bush administration, is a major supplier to the United States, which is its biggest customer.
Mr Chavez said yesterday's move was made in support of his close ally President Evo Morales of Bolivia, where violent anti-government protests have killed eight people.
"The Yankee ambassador in Caracas has got 72 hours to get out of Venezuela, in solidarity with Bolivia," Mr Chavez said.
Mr Morales, a leftist Aymara Indian, this week expelled the US ambassador in the poor Andean nation after accusing him of instigating the protests.
Mr Chavez said Washington was behind an alleged plot by retired military officers to kill him and said it had plans to bomb him from planes marked as Venezuelan.
"If there was an aggression against Venezuela there would be no oil for the people or for the government of the United States," the former paratrooper said.
The United States has rejected the allegations by Chavez and Morales. Mr Chavez was briefly ousted in a 2002 coup that was initially welcomed by Washington. Even after the coup Mr Chavez did not go so far as to expel the US ambassador.
It retaliated against Bolivia on Thursday by ordering its ambassador to Washington to leave. Chavez told his own ambassador to the United States to come home before he was thrown out.
The US State Department said it had not been officially notified of the expulsion.
In a busy week even for the outspoken socialist, Mr Chavez allowed two Russian long-range bombers to land in Venezuela and played audio tapes live on television that appeared to show military officers conspiring against him.
He also cut US flights to Venezuela and warned he would support "armed movements" to back Mr Morales in the event of a coup against him.