VP Pence warns Venezuela as sanctions under consideration

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) – U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is talking tough on Venezuela as expectations mount that the Trump administration will announce new economic sanctions against the nation.

Pence says in a tweet sent Friday that the U.S. “will not stand by as Venezuela crumbles.” He says the “birthright” of Venezuelans has been and always will be freedom.

Friday tweet comes after Pence visited Venezuelan exiles in Miami to express solidarity with their effort to protect the country’s democracy from President Nicolas Maduro’s increasingly authoritarian rule. Last month the Trump administration promised to take strong economic actions if Maduro went ahead with plans to create a constitutional assembly comprised of government loyalists.

Since the assembly has been seated, it has ousted the nation’s outspoken chief prosecutor and taken power from the opposition-controlled congress.

(Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)