Pence lauds Ecuador on Venezuela
QUITO, Ecuador — Visiting U.S. Vice President Mike Pence praised Ecuador’s leader for warming relations Thursday and urged him to hold a firm line against neighboring Venezuela, which has been crumbling under a crisis.
Winning back trade privileges rejected by Ecuador’s former president, Rafael Correa, was a central part of the talks for current President Lenin Moreno.
“The Ecuadorean people have shown remarkable compassion,” Pence said, noting that 350,000 Venezuelans have fled to Ecuador, a country of a little more than 16 million people. “We must all take strong action to restore democracy in Venezuela.”
In his Latin American trip, Pence announced $10 million in aid to assist in the absorption of Venezuelan refugees, dedicating $2 million of that to efforts in Ecuador. The U.S. since 2017 has provided its regional partners nearly $31 million.
Pence said that relations have improved under Moreno’s leadership and noted their shared fight against international drug traffickers. He credited the new president with reversing a decade of failed policy and rooting out corruption.
Pence arrived in Quito on Wednesday evening from Manaus, Brazil, where he visited a shelter that houses Venezuelans who have fled their homeland’s turmoil.
Moreno was elected last year with Correa’s backing but has since broken with his mentor in adopting a more business- and press-friendly stance that has earned him bipartisan praise in Washington as something of a bridge builder in ideologically polarized Latin America.
Under Moreno, Ecuador has distanced itself from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, for example pulling funding for the Caracas-based Telesur TV network.