First, it was Bolivian President Evo Morales who expelled the US ambassador. Second, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez did the same thing. As far I can can remember that is the first time ever that two US ambassadors got the boot practically simultaneously.
In the meantime, Russia is sending two of its strategic bombers to Venezuela as a symbolic sign of support and is announcing that a naval group headed by the most heavily armed ship on the planet, the heavy nuclear rocket cruise Petr Velikii, will soon come to Venezuela for a visit.
Make no mistake – neither the bombers nor the naval group represent any kind of military threat to the USA (the bombers are only equipped with training ordinance). But the combined political message of these recent developments is clear: Moscow is flipping the finger to uncle Shmuel.
Also, US relations with Argentina are quite cold, for a FBI investigation over a supposed corruption plot involving the Argentinean and Venezuela governments. Never has South America been so rebellious against US interest in the region. But it seems that Washington is noticing that they are losing space in the region: that is why they recreated the IV Fleet (which ceased to exist after the end of WWII), in charge of patrolling the South Atlantic and Caribbean, supposedly to fight against drug smuggling. Hard to imagine how an aircraft carrier and some destroyers and submarines will be useful in this kind of operation, though. The message is clear: the US is worried about South America’s intentions to move aways from Washington and is beginning to work against this.