Vice President Mike Pence told the United Nations on Wednesday it must disinvite the Venezuelan ambassador and recognize opposition leader Juan Guaido as the South American country’s rightful leader, elevating the Trump administration’s multimonth campaign to oust socialist President Nicolas Maduro.
The vice president used the New York stage to challenge Mr. Maduro’s representative to the U.N. Security Council directly, saying he should pack up his things and go home.
“With all due respect, you shouldn’t be here,” Mr. Pence told Ambassador Samuel Moncada. “You should return to Venezuela and tell Nicolas Maduro his time is up. It’s time for him to go.”
The ambassador stared back at him, smirked wryly and laughed in a way that made it clear he didn’t like what he was hearing.
Mr. Maduro, a socialist strongman whom the U.S. and its allies say won reelection through fraud last year, is facing rising international pressure amid a humanitarian crisis in his country that’s sparked widespread hunger, collapsing health care systems and frequent power outages.
Mr. Pence said the U.S. is preparing a resolution that would revoke Mr. Moncada’s credentials and recognize representatives for Mr. Guaido instead, citing the dozens of nations that have recognized the 35-year-old Mr. Guaido as interim president.
“Today, we urge every member of the Security Council and all U.N. member states to support this resolution. Stand with the Venezuelan people as they rise up to restore freedom, democracy, and libertad to their nation,” Mr. Pence said, using the Spanish word for freedom.
It’s a go-to phrase for Mr. Pence, who has become the public face of White House efforts push aside Mr. Maduro and decry his socialist policies. From Bogota to the banks of the East River, Mr. Pence has railed against Mr. Maduro as a parasite who’s robbing his own people and terrorizing them with bands of his partisans, or colectivos.
Mr. Pence rallied with Latin American leaders in Colombia in February, joined Mr. Trump for a White House meeting with Mr. Guaido’s wife, Fabiana Rosales, last month and announced sanctions on Venezuelan oil shippers at Rice University on Friday.
It’s a natural role for the vice president, who “carries more internal weight and convening authority” than any single Cabinet member, such as secretaries of Treasury, State or Defense departments, said Shannon O’Neil, a senior fellow for Latin American studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“So in that sense, he can be more effective for big, complicated issues requiring input from different parts of the U.S. government or international realm,” she said.
But with Venezuela’s powerful military so far showing no sign it is abandoning the Maduro regime for now, it’s unclear if his efforts will pay off.
The Trump administration says all options are on the table when it comes to ousting Mr. Maduro, yet it hasn’t outlined red lines that could prompt military action. Russia, Iran, Turkey and Cuba are among the states that are also continue to support the Caracas regime.
“Russia and Iran have no business in Venezuela. They should step aside and allow the people of Venezuela to restore their democracy and their freedom,” Mr. Pence told reporters.
Moscow on Wednesday accused the U.S. of artificially inflating the crisis in Venezuela, while Mr. Moncada told the Security Council that “the ground is being laid for an invasion” by the U.S., according to The Associated Press.
Moving forward, Mr. Pence said the Trump administration will announce additional sanctions against the Maduro regime, on top of earlier moves to crack down on state-own oil and shipping companies and gold mines.
He also said the U.S. is releasing an additional $60 million Wednesday to help the 3 million-plus Venezuelans displaced by the crisis, bringing total American aid to nearly $260 million since fiscal 2017.
Ms. O’Neil said sanctions are the most powerful tool being used to date, though it has been Washington that has applied the bulk of the international pressure. The Trump administration hasn’t gotten other countries to revoke visas or go after Venezuelan money laundering, and it hasn’t offered temporary refugee status to fleeing Venezuelans, which would let them stay in the U.S. legally until the situation in their home country stabilized.
She also said the U.S. is offering millions of dollars in aid for a problem that is costing billions.
“As a result, I worry the regime can hold on,” Ms. O’Neil said.
Yet Rep. Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, believes Mr. Pence is hitting his marks.
“The vice president’s consistent dedication, personal engagement, and passion to this crisis demonstrate America’s resolve and support,” he said. “The administration’s united front and continued support from the international community has garnered worldwide awareness that the Maduro regime is the true enemy of the Venezuelan people.”
Mr. Pence reminded the U.N. that 54 nations in all have spoken with a “clear voice” in backing Mr. Guaido, the National Assembly leader, as interim president.
“It’s time,” he said, “for the United Nations to speak.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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