SANTIAGO, April 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended sanctions on Venezuela and said the United States would not “quit the fight” in the socialist-run Latin American nation which is spiralling into deepening economic and political crisis.
Pompeo is on a three-day trip to Chile, Paraguay and Peru, a clutch of fast-growing countries in a region where Washington’s concerns are focused on China’s growing presence as well as the Venezuelan crisis.
“The United States and its allies will not quit this fight,” he said during a Friday event in Chilean capital Santiago, adding that the country would keep supporting Venezuelans “courageously standing up for democracy in their home country.”
Washington is pressuring President Nicolas Maduro to step down and urging more countries to join the coalition supporting opposition leader Juan Guaido. South America has seen a political shift in recent years towards the right, and most nations have backed Guaido.
“It’s a historic opportunity when you have all but a handful of countries that are truly market-driven, democratic in ways that you haven’t had in South America for decades,” Pompeo told reporters earlier en route to Santiago, where he met with Chilean President Sebastián Piñera.
Pompeo will travel later to Paraguay, the first visit by a US secretary of state to the country since 1965, a gesture experts say underscores US commitment to the region.
On Sunday he is set to visit Cucuta, a Colombian border city receiving significant numbers of Venezuelan migrants fleeing hunger and violence in their homeland.
Washington has imposed a raft of sanctions against Maduro’s government in an attempt to dislodge him from power.
On Friday, it added four firms and nine ships to its blacklist.
Pompeo said the people recognised the United States was not to blame for the country’s crisis.
“I think they understand who the malign actor is here and I think they’ll see all the countries in the region, including the United States, as truly trying to help them,” he said.
Maduro blames US sanctions for the country’s economic problems and dismisses Guaido as a US puppet.
While most Western nations have recognised Guaido as head of state, Russia, China and Cuba have stood by Maduro.
The International Monetary Fund said this week Venezuela’s economy was expected to contract by one-fourth in 2019, and a further 10 per cent in 2020. — NNN-AGENCIES
