VENEZUELA: U.S. Wants Latin America To Increase Pressure On Maduro - Pence

(RTTNews) - United States Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday that his country would not stand idle as crisis unravels in Venezuela, and called on Latin America to exert more pressure on the government of Nicolás Maduro.

Pence's comments were made during a joint press conference after a meeting with the Argentinean President Mauricio Macri at the official residence of Olivos.

"President [Donald] Trump sent me with a message that should be made clear throughout Latin America: the United States is not going to stand idly by while Venezuela is destroying itself. President Trump has many options at his disposal, but we believe that by increasing diplomatic and economic pressure on Maduro, not only on the continent but throughout the world, we will achieve by peaceful means a renewed democratic order," Pence said.

Pence also said that Venezuela is "slowly becoming a dictatorship" and thanked Argentina and Macri due to what he called as regional leadership "demonstrated in that issue." The American Vice President also praised Mercosur's decision to expel Venezuela and called for more determined action in Latin America to put pressure on Maduro.

Macri said that the political and economic pressure "to restore democracy in Venezuela" should be "extreme," but clarified that "the way is not the use of force but to deepen political pressure." He also asked Maduro to present an electoral timetable and to release political prisoners.