WASHINGTON – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has told the Chileanbroadcaster Mega TV that every single tool for what he described as USefforts “to restore democracy” in Venezuela remains on the table. Heconfirmed that military intervention is still an option amid the ongoingpolitical crisis in which Washington has backed self-proclaimed presidentJuan Guaido and denounced Nicolas Maduro.
According to him “every single tool, every single option remains on thetable” even though the Lima Group of Latin American countries has rejectedsuch a scenario and the US lacks support for such a measure from the UnitedNations Security Council.
“We’ve made clear our goal is to convince Maduro it is time to leave. We’regoing to leave every option on the table to use to achieve that objective”,he said, noting, however, that the “work is diligent to find a diplomatic,political resolution to save the people from Venezuela from the Cubans, theRussians, and this tyrant Nicolas Maduro”.
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When he was asked if the end of this year is Washington’s deadlinefor Maduro to step down, he expressed hope that the legitimate Venezuelanpresident would leave “much sooner than that”. At the same time, headmitted that China and Russia’s support for Venezuela makes Maduro’s exitmore difficult. He insisted that Russia “intervened without authority”without the “consent of the Venezuelan people” to support Maduro, whom hebranded “the former leader of Venezuela”. – Sputnik
