Chavez defends diplomat expelled by Washington

President Hugo Chavez blamed the expulsion of a Venezuelan diplomat from the US on “counter-revolutionaries” in the latest flare-up between Washington and its most prominent foe in Latin America.President Barack Obama’s government ordered out Venezuela’s consul general to Miami last weekend after the TV network Univision aired allegations she had in the past discussed cyber-attacks on the US with Iranian and Cuban diplomats.But Chavez, giving his government’s first response to the case late on Monday, said that the move against Livia Acosta Noguera was “arbitrary and unjustified.”Venezuelan intelligence had known it was coming and protectively kept her in Caracas since December, he added during a news conference with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.“She is a dignified professional, attacked, slandered and demonised by that group of extremists in the US and now by Barack Obama’s government,” he said.Venezuela’s government says exiled nationals - who are based in the US state of Florida and are bitterly opposed to the socialist Chavez government - are influencing US policy towards Caracas.“They are counter-revolutionaries, not all of them, but a little group ... from the ultra-right,” he said, promising a formal response to the expulsion shortly. “It’s another demonstration of the ridiculous empire’s arrogance.”The latest spat in a long line of diplomatic disputes between Venezuela and the US during Chavez’s 13 years in power came at a sensitive time during the Iranian leader’s visit to the region.Washington, which is turning the screw on Iran over its nuclear policy, has urged nations to cool ties with Tehran.