The Trump administration called out foreign countries aiding the socialist regime in Venezuela, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slamming Russia and China for financially fueling the crisis in Caracas.
“China and others are being hypocritical in calling for ’non-intervention’ in Venezuela’s affairs,” Mr. Pompeo said in a speech in Santiago, Chile. “Their own financial interventions have helped destroy the country.”
Russia troops arrived in Venezuela, a longtime ally, in recent weeks to train Mr. Maduro’s forces.
“We shouldn’t stand for Russia escalating an already precarious situation in these ways,” Mr. Pompeo said.
Just hours earlier, the U.S. announced sanctions on four companies that transported oil from Venezuela to Cuba.
“Venezuela’s oil belongs to the Venezuelan people, and should not be used as a bargaining tool to prop up dictators and prolong oppression,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.
The State Department said the sanctions “seek to hinder the regime’s further theft and the predatory influence of Cuba, which takes Venezuela’s oil and pays the regime with security and intelligence forces to keep Nicolas Maduro in power.”
Mr. Pompeo is on a South American trip seeking to rally the coalition opposing Mr. Maduro and contending that Juan Guaido, the head of the opposition-dominated national parliament, is the country’s rightful leader.
• Lauren Toms can be reached at lmeier@washingtontimes.com.
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