“You can end this today”: Secretary of state sends a message to President Nicolás Maduro.
By John Hudson John Hudson National security reporter focusing on the State Department and diplomacy. Email Bio Follow April 14 at 8:23 PM CÚCUTA, Colombia — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had a lot to feel good about during his four-country swing through South America this past week.
And in Colombia, Venezuelans who have fled there thanked him for his efforts in the border town of Cúcuta, where the United States has positioned tons of aid in the event Maduro’s regime allows food and medicine into the country. “Your question showed an incredible lack of understanding,” Pompeo said, following his Peruvian counterpart’s response. “To have suggested that somehow the policies that Peru has taken or that the Lima Group has taken or that the United States has taken have driven these refugees. You shouldn’t ask questions like that.”
“As a sanctions analyst who is broadly supportive of sanctions pressure on Maduro, asking about humanitarian consequences is not only legitimate, but key to trying to calculate if our strategy is fulfilling our goals,” said Neil Bhatiya, a scholar at the Center for a New American Security, a bipartisan think tank in Washington.
Maduro’s mismanagement of the economy, election fraud and clampdown on dissent have provoked widespread criticism, a point reiterated by Latin American leaders on Pompeo’s trip.
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