MIKE PENCE/TRUMP PEOPLE/VENEZUELA: “The Trump administration renewed its call Monday [6-4-18] for the Organization of American States to suspend Venezuela and for other members to step up pressure on the country’s government to restore constitutional order. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the Western Hemisphere bloc that President Nicolas Maduro’s government was in the process of a ‘full-scale dismantling’ of democracy. Vice President Mike Pence had earlier called for Venezuela’s suspension. In his remarks, Pompeo again condemned last month’s disputed elections, in which Maduro was returned to power, as a ‘sham’ and said the government had ‘exhausted all options for dialogue.’ ‘The suspension is not a goal by itself, but it will show that the OAS backs its words with actions,’ said Pompeo at the General Assembly, the highest-level meeting of the OAS. A total of 20 foreign ministers of the 34 member states of the body had agreed earlier Monday to include for the first time in the agenda of its General Assembly an item related to the crisis in Venezuela.”
-AP Staff, “US Renews Call for OAS to Suspend Venezuela,” The New York Times online, June 4, 2018