Pompeo:Maduro must go

UNITED States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during an historic visit to Guyana on Friday, saying the government in neighboring Venezuela is illegitimate and must leave power.

Pompeo made the remarks at a news conference with Guyanese President Irfaan Ali. Pompeo is on a four-nation swing through South America.

He has visited Suriname and, following the Guyana visit, was headed to northern Brazil before a stopover in Colombia on the way back to the United States. The US has set aside $5 million to help Guyanese authorities deal with more than 30,000 refugees who have fled from Venezuela to Guyana in recent years.

Washington blames the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro for the deterioration of the country’s economy, basic services and democratic institutions, though US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó has been unable to win over the military and has lost the support of some opposition figures.

“We know two things. The Maduro regime has decimated the people of Venezuela and that Maduro himself is an indicted narcotics trafficker. This means he has to leave,” Pompeo said. Maduro says the US seeks to stage a coup in Venezuela and that US sanctions have hobbled the economy.

Prior to Pompeo’s visit, the Emancipation Support Committee (ESC) expressed concern over possible attempts by the US to overthrow Maduro’s regime.

ESC director of regional and pan-African affairs Khafra Kambon, in a release, said the Caribbean/Latin American region is faced with a grave and imminent threat and “we all need to do what we can to stave off certain disaster.

“There are increasing indications, including reports in US and international media (Newsday could find no reports on official media sources), that the administration led by President Donald Trump is preparing to launch a military attack on Venezuela to overthrow the duly-elected government of President Nicholas Maduro as part of an ‘October Surprise’: a strategy used by incumbent US governments seeking some outstanding achievement in October of an election year to boost chances of re-election in November.”

Kambon said “tell tale signs” of this attack on the diplomatic side were the recent visit of “war monger” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Jamaica to hold talks with Prime Minister Andrew Holness plus the visit on Friday to Guyana.

“Observers are asking why the US government would give such high priority to Guyana that it would take the unprecedented step of sending its Secretary of State to congratulate the newly-elected government. Anxieties are increased by the fact that Guyana has a long porous border with Venezuela and that it houses a long-standing US military base which observers fear may be reactivated.”

He also said the US military threat has been “manifest” for several months and cited military assets being placed in the Caribbean sea which was detailed in the Miami Herald as early as April 4, 2020 by Secretary of Defence Mark Esper.