Vice President Mike Pence Announces New Venezuela Sanctions

With faith in those advancing freedom, the resolve of our @POTUS and the American people, the courage of the Venezuelan people: Venezuela’s nightmare will end, Venezuela will again be free, her people will see a “new birth of freedom,” in a nation reborn to libertad. pic.twitter.com/5VBMLXoFiX

— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) February 25, 2019

Venezuela, we are with you and we will remain with you until Libertad is restored. ¡Estamos con ustedes! #VenezuelaLibre pic.twitter.com/6iHH3IrZse

— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) February 26, 2019

Today, Vice President Mike Pence traveled to Bogota, Colombia, reaffirming President Trump’s support for the people of Venezuela in their struggle for freedom.

“We will go with you,” @VP said. “You go with God. Vayan con Dios.”

1600 Daily: https://t.co/A68ueVC88u pic.twitter.com/e9hB4s9LLZ

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 26, 2019

If you were wondering why regime change in Venezuela has suddenly become the top priority of the Trump administration, it is because Vice President Mike Pence is running our foreign policy:

“Why it matters: Most people know Pence has been a driving force behind perhaps the most socially conservative presidency in modern history — especially on abortion rights. But that’s just the start. For the past two years, the vice president has done more than arguably any other senior administration official to propel President Trump’s most hawkish foreign policy positions. He’s done so consistently in private and, increasingly, in public.

Nobody has had more influence over Trump’s Venezuela policy than Pence.

National Security Advisor John Bolton, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Sen. Marco Rubio also play pivotal roles, but from the first days of the Trump presidency, Pence has dominated the issue. …”

Pence was in Venezuela yesterday.

He met with Juan Guaidó, the guy who Washington decided was the new president of Venezuela in January, and announced the Trump administration was imposing a new round of sanctions on Venezuela as punishment for the stunt it pulled on Colombia’s border last weekend:

“BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Vice President Mike Pence announced additional sanctions on Venezuelan officials Monday, urged Latin American neighbors to freeze assets of the state oil company and held his first face-to-face meeting with Venezuela’s opposition leader.

Visiting Colombia, Mr. Pence also warned some countries in the region that have conspicuously sought to remain neutral in the crisis convulsing Venezuela that they cannot remain so, singling out Mexico and Uruguay.

“We believe there can be no bystanders,” he said. “No one on the sidelines of this, particularly in our hemisphere.”

The statements by Mr. Pence, who was making his fifth trip to Latin America, escalated the Trump administration’s campaign aimed at pressuring President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela to step down. …”

Pence invoked Abraham Lincoln and vowed to bring “a new birth of freedom” to Venezuela. This is the same “new birth of freedom” that neocons have brought to the people of Serbia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Libya and Ukraine over the past 25 years.

The catch is that no one in Venezuela elected Juan Guaidó. A cabal of neocons in Washington simply decided to install Guaidó as president and the Venezuela military is stubbornly refusing to budge and launch an unpopular coup. Freedom appears to be on the way though.

US amasses special ops in Puerto Rico, army in Colombia to oust Maduro – Russian Security Council https://t.co/JnDZSZejaI

— ???? (@ADL_Intern) February 26, 2019