{"id":200442,"date":"2019-02-01T21:55:24","date_gmt":"2019-02-02T02:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=200442"},"modified":"2019-02-01T22:17:07","modified_gmt":"2019-02-02T03:17:07","slug":"pence-in-florida-time-to-end-maduro-regime-in-venezuela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/02\/01\/pence-in-florida-time-to-end-maduro-regime-in-venezuela\/","title":{"rendered":"Pence in Florida: Time to end Maduro regime in Venezuela"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cThis is no time for dialogue,\u201d Pence said at a church in the Doral suburb of Miami, prompting loud cheers among exiles who fled their homeland. \u201cIt is time to end the Maduro regime.\u201d (File Photo<\/a>: Michael Vadon\/Flickr<\/a>, CC BY 2.0<\/span><\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

DORAL, Fla. \u2014\u00a0U.S.\u00a0Vice-President Mike Pence told a crowd in Florida on Friday that it is time to take action to end the socialist regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.<\/p>\n

Pence told dozens of Venezuelans that Washington was working toward a \u201cpeaceful transition\u201d so opposition leader Juan Guaido rises to power. But he reassured them President Donald Trump’s administration would further weaken Maduro.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is no time for dialogue,\u201d Pence said at a church in the Doral suburb of Miami, prompting loud cheers among exiles who fled their homeland. \u201cIt is time to end the Maduro regime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before his speech, Pence sat down with a college professor who says he and his wife were physically assaulted by armed pro-government groups. In a round-table discussion, he also heard from other Venezuelans refugees such as a former city councilman who says he was accused of being a CIA agent. A doctor showed enlarged pictures of children seemingly dying of hunger.<\/p>\n

A Venezuelan accountant and professor at Andres Bello Catholic University, Jose Ali Ravanguoy, told Pence and Florida politicians that he was being persecuted for teaching about democracy in working-class neighbourhoods that were socialist strongholds. \u201cWe started to make noise,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am here as the face of many mothers who live with the fear that their husbands won’t come home. That the father of their kids won’t return. That their children live a childhood full of fear and persecution,\u201d said Francis Suarez, wife of Ravanguoy, who wore a shirt that said \u201cMake Venezuela Free Again.\u201d<\/p>\n

About 190,000 Venezuelans live in Florida, and many have arrived in recent years as the country spiraled downward as a result of an economic and political crisis under Maduro and former President Hugo Chavez.<\/p>\n

Sen. Marco Rubio, a fierce critic of Maduro, warned that time was running out for the socialist leader to voluntarily step down from office.<\/p>\n

\u201cNicolas Maduro has got big problems. This is not like the other times. You’ve made a terrible enemy in Donald Trump,\u201d Rubio said.<\/p>\n

The Florida Republican has praised the Trump administration for hitting Venezuela’s state-owned oil company with sanctions.<\/p>\n

Pence said the Trump administration would continue to put diplomatic and economic pressure to force Maduro to cede power and restore democracy in the South American nation. He repeated a message that Donald Trump has given before regarding consideration a military intervention, and said \u201call options are on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alejandro Segovia Marquez, a former city councilman who says he was accused of working for the CIA, told Pence in a discussion that Venezuelans can’t wait any longer because time equals deaths.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe, the Venezuelans, stand by the United States’ side and are waiting for you,\u201d he said. \u201cFor pity, for humanity, do not drag your feet on this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DORAL, Fla. \u2014\u00a0U.S.\u00a0Vice-President Mike Pence told a crowd in Florida on Friday that it is time to take action to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":98951,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-200442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","mauthors-adriana-gomez-licon","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}