Venezuela expels EU vote observer

CARACAS, Venezuela, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- A European Union observer for an upcoming referendum in Venezuela on term limits for President Hugo Chavez has been expelled, opponents say.

An opposition politician told Venezuela's Globovision television that Spanish Member of European Parliament Luis Herrero was forcibly ejected from his hotel and taken to an airport by security forces Friday after calling Chavez "a dictator" in a press conference a day earlier, CNN reported.

"Following his comments, in a sequestering operation, they took him by force from the hotel without even allowing him to take his personal belongings and his passport," Luis Ignacio Planas told Globovision.

A statement from the Venezuelan government said Herrero had been "invited" to leave the country in order to maintain a "peaceful climate" before Sunday's referendum on relaxing presidential term limits, the U.S. broadcaster reported.

"Don't ever let fear obstruct your vote, as a dictator has premeditated," Herrero had told a nationally televised press conference.