Politics Despite the recent impasse between the government of President Hugo Chávez and Washington that ended with the expulsion of US Ambassador in Venezuela, Patrick Duddy, operations at the US Embassy are running smoothly, said sources of the diplomatic mission.

All the services of the US Embassy, including consular services, are working normally, said the source, adding that John Caulfield, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy and now the US Chargé d'Affaires, is acting as the top US government officer in Venezuela.

Caulfield is an officer with an extensive diplomatic career, who has experience in the region after being Chargé d'Affaires at the American Embassy in Lima, Peru.

Ambassador Patrick Duddy left Venezuela last Saturday, because his wife, Mary Duddy, should undergo a surgery in the United States.

The Venezuelan government ordered last Thursday the expulsion of the US representative in Venezuela after declaring the US ambassador to Caracas persona non grata "in solidarity with Bolivia," where President, Evo Morales, had also decided to expel the US ambassador, Philip Goldberg.

Reyes Theis
EL UNIVERSAL