Mike Pence warns that Venezuela is at risk of becoming 'a failed state'
Venezuela is at risk of becoming a failed state, the vice-president of the United States has warned, as he visited Latin America to tell them that the
Washington “will not stand by as Venezuela crumbles.”
Mike Pence, speaking in Colombia on Monday on the first leg of a four-nation Latin American tour, said that the US was concerned that
Venezuela could suck the region into a vortex of instability.
On Friday President Donald Trump caused astonishment and alarm by suggesting for the first time that he was considering military intervention in Venezuela, to quell four months of protests against the rule of President Nicolas Maduro.
The Pentagon said quickly that no plans for invasion had been drawn up, and most analysts believe it is highly unlikely that Washington would order its troops into the South American nation, beyond with a possible peacekeeping force.
But Mr Pence described his boss as “
a leader who says what he means and means what he says.”
“A failed state in Venezuela threatens the security and prosperity of our entire hemisphere and the people of the United States of America,” he said, adding that a void in Venezuelan leadership would allow drug trafficking to flourish and spark a surge in illegal migration.
“It's extraordinary to think that one of the wealthiest countries in South America would now be collapsing into dictatorship and poverty and deprivation,” he said.
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