HOUSTON (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence said Friday during a visit to Texas that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro “must go” because of the “suffering he has brought” to the people of that country.
“The struggle in Venezuela is between dictatorship and democracy, but freedom has the momentum. Nicolas Maduro is a dictator with no legitimate claim to power, and Nicolas Maduro must go,” Pence said at the Baker Institute at Rice University in Houston, named for former Secretary of State James Baker.
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Houston is home to a large Venezuelan immigrant community, as well as the corporate headquarters of CITGO, a subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-run oil giant PDVSA. Pence earlier this week called for the release of six CITGO executives who’ve been jailed in Venezuela for more than a year without trial. Pence has said the five American citizens and one legal permanent U.S. resident , all with roots in Texas and Louisiana, are being “illegally detained.” Pence said some of their relatives were at his speech Friday in Houston.
The U.S. and about 50 other countries contend Maduro’s election last year was illegitimate and support opposition leader Juan Guaido’s claim to the presidency.
Pence Friday said that “for far too long the people of Venezuela have suffered under the heavy hand of oppression.” He noted there’s been a mass exodus from the country, with more than 3 million abandoning it so far. He said that “for those who stay behind, it is a society of lawlessness, corruption, crime and violence.”
The U.S. on Friday added two oil-sector companies and 34 vessels to a sanctions list aimed at forcing Maduro to step down. A Treasury Department announcement said the companies and vessels are being used to ship fuel to Cuba or in other aspects of the oil industry and help support the Maduro government.
Pence said the only way Maduro “clings to power” is with the help of Cuba.
“All options are on the table,” Pence said. “We will not stand idly by while the Venezuelan people suffer under dictatorship and oppression. And Nicolas Maduro would do well not to test the resolve of the United States of America.”
Earlier Pence made a stop in Houston to thank U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for their service. He’s set later Friday to head to the George H.W. Bush Presidential Center in College Station where he’ll participate in a discussion on the American vice presidency with former vice presidents Dick Cheney and Dan Quayle.
US adds oil-sector firms, ships to Venezuela sanctions list
The United States on Friday added two companies involved in shipping oil from Venezuela to Cuba, along with nearly three dozen ships, to a financial sanctions list aimed at increasing pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step down and turn over power to the opposition.
A Treasury Department statement announcing the designation identified one of the companies as Ballito Bay Shipping Inc., based in Monrovia, Liberia. It is the registered owner of the Despina Andrianna, which has been used in recent weeks to ship Venezuelan crude to Cuba.
The other company is ProPer Management Inc., which is based in Greece and is the operator of the Despina Andrianna, Treasury said.
Cuba is a major importer of crude oil from Venezuela and, in exchange, sends political advisers, intelligence and military officials and medical professionals who help the Maduro government stay in power, Treasury said.
Treasury’s action prohibits any U.S. citizen or entity from transactions involving the companies, which is intended to reduce their access to the global financial system.
Treasury also listed 34 ships that it said are assets of the Venezuelan state-owned oil company known by its initials as PdVSA.
The U.S. and about 50 other countries say Maduro’s re-election last year was not legitimate and have recognized the head of the National Assembly as the interim president of Venezuela.
The U.S. imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry in January to cut off the government’s most important source of revenue.
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