Pompeo’s ‘war-mongering’ tour a failure, says Maduro
CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — President Nicolas Maduro on Friday said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s “war-mongering” tour of Venezuela’s neighbours had failed.
“Mike Pompeo is on a war-mongering tour against Venezuela, but it has backfired on him… and he has failed in all his attempts to get the governments of the continent to organize themselves in a war against Venezuela,” Maduro said on state TV.
The Venezuelan president has repeatedly accused the US and Colombia of plotting a military coup against him.
“Not even one thousand Mike Pompeos will be able to bring war to South America,” said Maduro, as the TV broadcast images of military exercises involving the Bolivarian Militia, a civilian corps attached to the Armed Forces.
Pompeo has used his whistlestop four-nation South American visit to increase pressure on Maduro to leave power, saying his rule had “decimated the people of Venezuela” and “he has to leave”.
