Pence urges Latin American allies to isolate Venezuela

Showing solidarity with opposition leaders, US Vice President Mike Pence urged Latin American allies today to further isolate Venezuela, suggesting the Trump administration would seek additional sanctions to counter the country's political crisis.

Pence, in Lima for the Summit of the Americas, announced that the US would provide nearly USD 16 million in humanitarian assistance to Venezuelans who have fled their country under the rule of President Nicolas Maduro.

"We want one message to be clear: We are with the people of Venezuela," Pence said at the US ambassador's residence, seated with a group of Venezuelan opposition leaders. The vice president called Maduro's government a "dictatorship" and said the US would continue to push a hard line against the country's leadership.

"The US and our allies, I believe, are prepared to do much more," Pence said, accusing Maduro of "refusing humanitarian aid to be delivered to Venezuela." He said the US would push "additional sanctions, additional isolation and additional diplomatic pressure beginning in our hemisphere but across the wider world."