⁍ U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Venezuelan migrants at a refugee reception center in northern Brazil on Friday.

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⁍ He blamed Maduro for a ‘man-made crisis’ of unprecedented proportions in Venezuela and called the Venezuelan president a ‘drug-trafficker’
Brazil’s right-wing government two weeks ago declared Maduros’s diplomats personae non gratae but stopped short of expelling them.

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– US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in Brazil, the third stop of a regional tour to ramp up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicol ⁇ s Maduro. “They want what all human beings want—dignity, they want a democratic, peaceful, sovereign Venezuela to call home, one where they and their children can find jobs and live,” he said at an air base in Boa Vista, capital of Roraima state, per Reuters. He blamed Maduro for a “man-made crisis” of unprecedented proportions in Venezuela and called the Venezuelan president a “drug-trafficker.” Pompeo also visited a soup kitchen serving hungry migrants with Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo. Brazil’s right-wing government two weeks ago declared Maduros’ diplomats personae non gratae but stopped short of expelling them. Pompeo praised Brazil’s humanitarian efforts to receive 250,000 Venezuelans who have crossed the border, some of the more than 5 million that have left their country due to the political and economic turmoil. He said Washington was announcing another $348 million to help Venezuelan refugees, including $30 million for those in Brazil, bringing total US contribution to more than $1.2 billion Brazil’s border with Venezuela has been closed since March 18 due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the flow of migrants crossing into Brazil has dropped from an average of 600 a day to a handful of Venezuelans who walk along cross-country trails. International efforts to encourage democratic change in Venezuela appear to have stalled and Maduro has asserted his grip on power.