The US Secretary of State closed his tour of the Latin American region in which he thanked the support for the pressure against the Venezuelan regime

The Secretary of State of the United States Rex Tillerson closed his first tour in Latin America and the Caribbean in Jamaica; the Venezuelan crisis focused a large part of Tillerson's meetings with several regional leaders. In addition, he warned about the exaggerated presence of Russia and China in the region, which, for him, can fracture the Latin American bloc.

In his last stop, the Prime Minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness, and Tillerson demanded that the Venezuelan Government allow "fair and free" elections, after the announcement by Venezuela of holding elections on April 22nd.

From Jamaica, the Secretary of State's concern was manifested towards the protection of the human rights of the population in the midst of the crisis in the South American nation, a topic that he also addressed in his visit to Mexico, Argentina, Peru, and Colombia.

"That said, I think there is great unanimity in the region and certainly in the hemisphere that we all want an improvement in the situation in Venezuela, which is getting worse every day", the Secretary of State added in his statement to the media.

The Secretary of State of the United States affirmed on Tuesday, February 6th from Bogota, Colombia that Washington and its allies in Latin America aspire to achieve the restoration of democracy in Venezuela as soon as possible, and that for this, the Lima Group has been essential in this work. "We exchange ideas on how we can work together with other countries in the region through the Lima Group and also through the OAS in order to restore democracy in Venezuela", Tillerson told a press conference from the Casa de Nariño, in company of President Juan Manuel Santos.

Tillerson took the opportunity to affirm Colombia's role in restoring democracy in the oil-rich country and opened the possibility of redirecting the aid destined for Caracas to citizens seeking refuge in the Andean nation. For Tillerson it is clear that the arrival of Venezuelans to the country means a cost that the country is taking on.

Last Sunday, February 4th, from Argentina, Tillerson and Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie informed that they are studying the possibility of imposing sanctions on Venezuelan oil to pressure the president of that country, Nicolás Maduro, to "return to constitutional order" and leave of the crisis in which the country is sunk.

Tillerson reiterated again, from Jamaica, that the United States is considering sanctioning the oil market or Venezuelan products and thus putting pressure on the Venezuelan government, but is also considering the impact of these measures in neighboring countries, which are currently the main buyers of these products.

Sanctions on Venezuela's crucial oil industry would represent an escalation of financial pressure on the Caribbean country, which suffers from a severe shortage of food and medicine. So far the sanctions have been concentrated on members of the Maduro government and a ban on buying new Venezuelan debt. Sales of Venezuelan oil to the United States in 2017 were the lowest since 1991, according to the commercial data flow of Thomson Reuters.

Tillerson said before leaving for the United States, that in his tour he found the support that the United States has expressed against the Nicolás Maduro regime. In addition, I affirm that, although he did not visit all the countries of the region, if it is evident the non-recognition of the elections to be held in April in Venezuela by the regional leaders.

Latin American Post | Carlos Eduardo Gómez Avella

Translated from 'Rex Tillerson: "Es urgente restaurar el orden democrático en Venezuela"'