Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro’s cronies are looking for a “golden ticket” out of the regime, according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
“I think we see leaders inside of Maduro’s inner circle now trying to figure out what the golden ticket looks like,” Pompeo told the Hill’s Newsmaker Series Monday morning. “’What does it look like if I leave?’ When they start asking those questions, surely some of them will decide that there are better times ahead not supporting that thug.”
U.S. officials have struggled to fracture the regime since January, when President Trump recognized top opposition lawmaker Juan Guaidó as the interim president of the country. Maduro refuses to relinquish power and the military remains resolute behind him, buttressed by Cuban security services and roving gangs of “colectivos” that have cracked down on protesters.
“They will be in a far better place if they chose a different path,” Pompeo said of Maduro’s Cuban backers. “We are making the same case to all the parties that are supporting Maduro. Certainly the people inside his own military, his own army. The Cubans, the next ring out. The Russians.”
[Related: US diplomat: ‘Very, very possible’ half of Venezuela’s population flees Maduro regime]
Trump’s team has been intensifying sanctions on Cuba, partly because of the Communist regime’s key role in providing security assistance to Maduro. But as the regime’s top military commanders remain unified, U.S. officials are trying to undermine Maduro’s remaining civilian support by assuring the PSUV political party that it has a future after Maduro.
“We believe the Maduro regime must come to an end for Venezuela to recover democracy and prosperity, but like all of the country’s citizens, PSUV is entitled to a role in rebuilding Venezuela,” special representative Elliott Abrams, the top U.S. diplomat for the crisis, said last week. “You in the PSUV are entitled to run in free elections and try to convince your fellow citizens of the value of your policy.”
Venezuela has turned into an arena of competition between the United States and rivals Russia and even China, both of which are giving the socialist leader valuable diplomatic support. Pompeo said Monday that his administration is working overtime behind the scenes to oust the Venezuelan dictator.
“There are many efforts in the State Department to restore democracy to the Venezuelan people,” Pompeo said. “It is an imperative. It’s in our space, it’s here in the Western Hemisphere.”
[Also read: Pompeo to Latin America: ‘We love you,’ China doesn’t]
