Washington has stepped up diplomatic maneuver on the situation in Venezuela weeks after it recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the nation’s “interim president” and slapped sanctions on Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA to cut off Caracas’s vital source of revenue.
US National Security Adviser John Bolton tweeted Wednesday that he had just met with Colombian Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo at the White House and they “discussed pressing issues, including joint efforts to provide humanitarian aid to the Venezuelan people, as well as counter-terrorism collaboration.”
According to a statement issued on Wednesday by the State Department’s deputy spokesperson Robert Palladino, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier met with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian to discuss issues like Venezuela, Iran and Russia.
In addition, a statement issued later by the White House on Wednesday said that President Donald Trump will welcome his Colombian counterpart Ivan Duque to the White House on Feb. 13 when the two leaders will discuss “strategic partnerships in regional security, and efforts to restore democracy in Venezuela.”
Trump has also warned that “all options are on the table” regarding Venezuela.
At a news briefing in late January, Bolton accidentally turned to the media the face of a yellow pad that included a draft note showing a plan to send “5,000 troops to Colombia,” stoking international fear about a U.S. military intervention on the Venezuela crisis.