Venezuela said Tuesday it achieved a "diplomatic triumph" as the United States finally agreed to consider other candidates to replace Larry Palmer as its ambassador to Caracas, Xinhua reported.
The victory came after President Hugo Chavez raised the issue with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a brief meeting on Saturday, when both of them attended the inaugural ceremony of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in Brasilia, Venezuela's communication and information ministry said in a statement.
"It was a friendly and surprise meeting," it added.
The Venezuelan government has been opposing Palmer's appointment since August when the latter said during his Senate confirmation hearing that Venezuela harbored leftist guerrillas from Colombia and that the Venezuelan military was under Cuban influence and low in morale.
In response, last week Washington revoked the diplomat visa of Venezuelan Ambassador to Washington Bernardo Alvarez.
However, after the Chavez-Clinton meeting, the U.S. government announced on Tuesday that Palmer's appointment has been canceled while reaffirming interests in maintaining sound ties with Venezuela.