Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ordered on Thursday the expulsion of John Correa, the U.S. embassy military attache in Venezuela, for spying.

He said on a television program celebrating the seventh anniversary of his government.

"Today, Venezuela is free from any imperialist chains," Chavez said, adding that the whole of the military mission would be sent home, if attaches insisted on spying, although none would be jailed.

Correa is now persona non grata and must leave the country immediately.

Chavez described a group of around 20 low-ranking officials and military retirees who had passed information to Correa as traitors, and said they would be court martialled.

"We will be inflexible with these traitors," he said, demanding that they serve 30-year sentences. The espionage case showed that Venezuela had not finished clearing out the armed forces, he said.

Also on the program, vice president Jose Vicente Rangel said that the U.S. embassy had lent assistance to April 2002's failed coup against the Chavez government, during which the president was ousted for a number of hours. Then-defense minister Rangel said that he had found U.S. soldiers on the fifth floor of the Venezuelan defense ministry on the day of the failed coup.

The United States and Venezuela have had a tense relationship for a number of years, although Venezuela remains a top supplier of petroleum to the United States. Washington has always denied involvement in the 2002 coup.

Source: Xinhua