Tillerson seeks unified stance on Venezuela in Latin trip
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made a renewed call for Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s regime to face international isolation, a theme he plans to pursue at each stop in a six-nation tour of Latin America.
“The corrupt and hostile regime of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela clings to a false dream and antiquated vision for the region that has already failed its citizens,” Tillerson said Thursday at the University of Texas at Austin during a stop en route to Mexico. “It does not represent the vision of millions of Venezuelans.”
Tillerson, who received a standing ovation at his alma mater, outlined a strategy that focuses on ramping up international pressure on Maduro to agree to credible elections to ease the country’s economic and political crisis.
The top U.S. diplomat indicated he’ll also work to highlight the advantages of trade with the U.S., as China makes new inroads into the region. His trip will include stops in Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Colombia and Jamaica.
A previous effort by the Trump administration to rally support on Venezuela, made in June at a meeting of the Organization of American States, failed as critics of Maduro splintered over what approach to take. Tillerson’s stop in Jamaica is aimed at bolstering support from divided Caribbean nations to force Venezuela into talks with opposition leaders.
While Tillerson said the U.S. isn’t seeking to orchestrate regime change, he said of Maduro: “If the kitchen gets a little too hot for him, I’m sure that he’s got some friends over in Cuba that could give him a nice hacienda on the beach and he’d have a nice life over there.”
Venezuela’s leaders haven’t been deterred by the U.S.’s push to ratchet up sanctions pressure, announcing last month that they would proceed with presidential elections in April. Speaking on a call with reporters earlier this week, a senior State Department official declined to say whether more sanctions were under consideration, adding that the U.S. would “use all economic, political, and diplomatic tools at our disposal.”
The trip will be an effort to reassure nations that the U.S. remains interested in a region that under President Donald Trump is mentioned mostly as a source of illegal immigrants and crime.