State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Caracas had notified US officials that the officers must be removed by May 30.

"We're disappointed that they made this decision, but it is their decision to make. It's their property, their bases, their offices," he said.

"We do think the overall goal of maintaining liaison with the Venezuelan government, Venezuelan military, remains important to us. So I think our intention at this point is to put those people into our embassy and have their work out of there."

The move is the latest sign of worsening relations between the United States and the government of elected leftist-populist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Chavez has accused the US government of financing a conspiracy against him, and has linked Washington with a failed coup in April 2002 that ousted him for 47 hours.

WAR.WIRE