(FILES) This file photo taken on Jan.27, 2019 shows the entrance of the embassy of the United States in Caracas. The United States will withdraw its remaining diplomatic staff from the embassy in Caracas as the crisis in Venezuela worsens, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said late on Monday, 2019. Luis Robayo / Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON: The United States will withdraw its remaining diplomatic staff from the embassy in Caracas as the crisis in Venezuela worsens, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said late on Monday.

“This decision reflects the deteriorating situation in #Venezuela as well as the conclusion that the presence of US diplomatic staff at the embassy has become a constraint on US policy,” Pompeo wrote on Twitter.

On Jan.24 the State Department ordered all non-emergency US government employees to depart Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro is facing a stiff challenge for power from opposition leader Juan Guaido amid an acute economic crisis.

That day the department also urged Americans living in Venezuela to consider leaving.

Agence France-Presse