Quito, June 28 (EFE) .- The vice president of the United States, Mike Pence, today expressed to the president of Ecuador, Lenin Moreno, that he expects from the Andean country “a closer collaboration” to face the “collapse of the Venezuelan dictatorship” .
“Mr. President, we seek to work more closely as we face the collapse of the Venezuelan dictatorship and depravity,” Pence told Moreno.
This was stated at the beginning of a formal meeting today at the presidential palace of Carondelet, in which Ecuadorian ministers of state and the delegation accompanying the second US president participated in his official visit to Ecuador.
Pence reiterated his nation’s position that some countries in the region can increase their efforts to face the political and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela.
“We believe that more must be done, the president (of the US, Donald) Trump has made it clear that the United States will not sit idly by while Venezuela collapses,” he added.
On the other hand, he was grateful for the “efforts Ecuador is taking”, in relation to the issue, and insisted that Washington aspires to find “new ways to work more, with other nations of the hemisphere, to see that not only the Humanitarian aid that is given to the Venezuelan people continues to arrive, but to see how democracy is restored “.
In this way, he reaffirmed that his country seeks to see how “the nearly 350,000 Venezuelans who fled their country through Ecuador – (part of the) more than two million have abandoned it for depravity – be able to return.”
Earlier this month, Pence telephoned Moreno to talk about the bilateral relationship and failed to convince him to vote in favor of starting the process to suspend Venezuela from the OAS, as did the so-called Grupo de Lima that groups more from a dozen countries, and had to settle for an Ecuadorian abstention.
Under the current Moreno government, Ecuador has maintained an equidistant position on Venezuela, based on the constitutional principle of non-interference.
However, after the May presidential elections in Venezuela, he expressed for the first time his concern over the situation in that nation and “vigorously” rejected the deaths that occurred in the protests against the Nicolás Maduro government.
Ecuador also formulated an initiative for a consultation in Venezuela under international supervision to endorse the re-election of Maduro.
For his part, Moreno thanked the vice president of the USA for his visit and said that it gives “a new impetus, a new air” to bilateral ties and he hoped that “from now on, never in life will they suffer any kind of deterioration” .
“We expect that respect and support so important to get out of this space in which, not on the initiative of Ecuadorians, but because unfortunately for bad decisions we are,” said Moreno, referring to the decade in which his predecessor ruled , Rafael Correa, in which there was a significant cooling of relations.
The Ecuadorian leader said that under his Executive, “we are doing things right, we are putting things in order, we are transparent and strengthening our democracy.” EFE
