Pompeo Touts Maduro Ouster on South America Visit
BOA VISTA, Brazil (Dispatches) – Mike Pompeo used a South American tour to claim that Nicolas Maduro "has to leave,” prompting the Venezuelan president to chastise the "war-mongering” U.S. secretary of state.
Touring a refugee center in the town of Boa Vista, Brazil, where many Venezuelans live after leaving their country amid inhuman U.S. sanctions, Pompeo emphasized the plight of the nearly five million people.
"Those people I talked to today are desperate to return home,” he said of the refugees being processed at the center -- among the estimated 260,000 Venezuelans who have fled to Brazil because of economic hardship.
"We know that the Maduro regime has decimated the people of Venezuela… That means he has to leave,” Pompeo said in Guyana during a joint press conference with President Irfaan Ali.
Maduro responded with his typical defiance. "Mike Pompeo is on a war-mongering tour against Venezuela, but it has backfired on him... and he has failed in all his attempts to get the governments of the continent to organize themselves in a war against Venezuela,” he said on state TV.
Venezuela, home to the world’s biggest oil reserves, has seen its economy shrink by more than half under the crippling American sanctions which the U.S. hopes would ultimately lead to Maduro’s ouster.
But Maduro has so far survived various attempts to oust him, including when U.S.-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself acting president in January 2019 without even running in an election.
In Brazil, Pompeo also toured a processing center for refugees. He announced another $348 million to purportedly help Venezuelan refugees and the countries hosting them – funds which the U.S. is illegally withdrawing from Venezuelan money frozen in American banks.
The funds announced for refugees are entrusted to Guaido who uses them as he likes, advancing his agenda.
Pompeo later met with far-right President Jair Bolsonaro’s foreign minister, Ernesto Araujo. The two reiterated their support for Guaido, who is recognized as president by the United States and its allies.
Maduro has steadfastly refused to back down and retains the support of the armed forces, as well as key allies in Russia, Iran, China, Turkey and other countries.
Iran has clashed with the United States over its attempts to ship gasoline to Venezuela, whose own refining capacity has collapsed so badly it now needs to import gasoline.
Touring a refugee center in the town of Boa Vista, Brazil, where many Venezuelans live after leaving their country amid inhuman U.S. sanctions, Pompeo emphasized the plight of the nearly five million people.
"Those people I talked to today are desperate to return home,” he said of the refugees being processed at the center -- among the estimated 260,000 Venezuelans who have fled to Brazil because of economic hardship.
"We know that the Maduro regime has decimated the people of Venezuela… That means he has to leave,” Pompeo said in Guyana during a joint press conference with President Irfaan Ali.
Maduro responded with his typical defiance. "Mike Pompeo is on a war-mongering tour against Venezuela, but it has backfired on him... and he has failed in all his attempts to get the governments of the continent to organize themselves in a war against Venezuela,” he said on state TV.
Venezuela, home to the world’s biggest oil reserves, has seen its economy shrink by more than half under the crippling American sanctions which the U.S. hopes would ultimately lead to Maduro’s ouster.
But Maduro has so far survived various attempts to oust him, including when U.S.-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself acting president in January 2019 without even running in an election.
In Brazil, Pompeo also toured a processing center for refugees. He announced another $348 million to purportedly help Venezuelan refugees and the countries hosting them – funds which the U.S. is illegally withdrawing from Venezuelan money frozen in American banks.
The funds announced for refugees are entrusted to Guaido who uses them as he likes, advancing his agenda.
Pompeo later met with far-right President Jair Bolsonaro’s foreign minister, Ernesto Araujo. The two reiterated their support for Guaido, who is recognized as president by the United States and its allies.
Maduro has steadfastly refused to back down and retains the support of the armed forces, as well as key allies in Russia, Iran, China, Turkey and other countries.
Iran has clashed with the United States over its attempts to ship gasoline to Venezuela, whose own refining capacity has collapsed so badly it now needs to import gasoline.