Pompeo to visit Brazil border as U.S. ramps up pressure on Maduro

Source: Reuters

BRASILIA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit the Brazilian city of Boa Vista near the border with Venezuela on Friday to meet with Venezuelan migrants, U.S. and Brazilian officials said on Tuesday, as Washington steps up pressure to oust its leftist President Nicolas Maduro.

His Sept. 17-20 trip will also take in Venezuela's other neighbors Colombia, Suriname and Guyana to meet their leaders, the State Department said.

It comes at a time when international efforts to advance democratic change in Venezuela appear to have stalled and Maduro has asserted his grip on power despite political and economic upheaval that drove 5 million Venezuelans to flee the country.

The trip will "highlight the United States' commitment to defend democracy," the State Department said. In Boa Vista, Pompeo will visit "Venezuelan migrants fleeing the manmade disaster in Venezuela," it said in a statement.

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