Venezuela Ends Military Program With U. S.

"Giving no explanation, the Bolivarian Government of Venezuela abruptly ended U.S. military participation in the bilateral exchange program," the embassy said in a statement. "The U.S. Embassy regrets this unexpected action. The U.S. government hopes to maintain the historical fraternal relations between the two military forces." An embassy official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there are four U.S. military instructors in Venezuela and roughly 90 Venezuelan military personnel in the United States. The American officers in Venezuela "were basically told to leave the Venezuelan military institutions and bases where they were," the official said in a telephone interview. "We have no explanation as to why this was done." http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=589&ncid=734&e=1&u=/ap/20050422/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_us_military