WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th January, 2020) The US government is going to intensify its efforts to topple twice democratically-elected Venezuela President Nicholas Maduro and replace him with former National Assembly Speaker Juan Guaido, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Carrie Filipetti said on Friday.
"There needs to be more pressure brought to bear against the Maduro regime," Filipetti told reporters in a conference call.
In the past week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met in person with Guaido for the first time during his visit to Colombia, Filipetti noted.
She also said the Trump administration was engaging the Spanish government as to why none of its officials met Guaido on his visit Madrid, throwing doubt on orchestrated European Union support for him.
"It is very surprising this is coming from the Spanish government ...This would undermine the EU initiative... This is not a very welcome development ...We are engaged with the Spanish government and we are trying to get some answers," Filipetti said.
Venezuela was seeking to expand its gold mining activities to substitute for the revenue it had lost from US sanctions on its oil exports, Filipetti added.
