U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that great effort was needed to restore democracy in Venezuela.
Restoring democracy in Venezuela is in our hemisphere’s interest and we should expand considerable effort to achieve that,” Pompeo said at The Heritage Foundation, a think tank in Washington, on October 22, 2019.
Pompeo has been a key player in President Donald Trump’s administration in exerting pressure amid attempts to find a solution to the Venezuelan crisis.
“When you see Venezuela get on the Human Rights Council at the U.N., it cries out for a re-examination of these fundamental first principles,” Pompeo said.
The secretary also stressed the role of the Lima Group, describing their efforts as “good, solid diplomatic work.”
“We’ve put together an enormous coalition — I’m incredibly proud of the Foreign Service officers of the State Department,” he said.
“Fifty-plus countries now recognize Juan Guaidó as the duly elected leader of the Venezuelan people,” he added.
The Group of Lima is a multilateral body that was established following the Lima Declaration on August 8, 2017, in the Peruvian capital, where representatives of 14 countries gathered to follow up and find a solution to the Venezuelan crisis.