\n Colombia's President Ivan Duque called Saturday for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to be prosecuted as a \"war criminal\" in a joint news conference with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.\n<\/p>\n
\n Duque spoke as Pompeo rounded off a three-day tour of Venezuela's neighbors designed to increase pressure on the socialist leader to leave power.\n<\/p>\n
\n Duque, a key US ally in the region, said a UN report this week showed \"that this is a regime behind violations of human rights that are systematic, and that the head of this dictatorship is a war criminal and the international community must put an end to the situation.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Nicolas Maduro is responsible for crimes against humanity as is his inner circle,\" the Colombian leader said, flanked by Pompeo at Casa de Narino presidential palace in Bogota.\n<\/p>\n
\n The 411-page UN Human Rights Council report accused Maduro and his inner circle of being responsible for probable crimes against humanity. Caracas dismissed the report as \"riddled with falsehoods.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Pompeo described his right-wing host as \"a true leader for the region and the dignity of its people.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n He said Duque's support \"of Interim President Juan Guaido\" and \"a sovereign Venezuela free of the malign influences of Cuba and Russia and Iran is incredibly valuable.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n He said violence on the part of guerrilla groups like FARC dissidents, the ELN \"or any other terrorist or criminal group is unacceptable.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n \"It cannot be tolerated nor can the actions of regimes like Maduro's which provides safe haven and a deep comfort to those terrorists.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n The US official also announced new technical assistance to help develop Colombia's \"energy minerals sector\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Pompeo arrived in Bogota late Friday after visiting a center for Venezuelan refugees in the Brazilian border town of Boa Vista, emphasizing the plight of nearly five million Venezuelans who had fled the country's economic meltdown under Maduro.\n<\/p>\n
\n The US top diplomat said on Friday that Maduro \"has to leave\" power, drawing a furious accusation of \"war-mongering\" from the Venezuelan leader.\n<\/p>\n
\n Pompeo began his three-day South American trip on Thursday in Suriname and Guyana, and will conclude it this weekend with a stop at an Evangelical mega-church in Dallas, Texas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Colombia's President Ivan Duque called Saturday for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to be prosecuted as a \"war criminal\" in a joint news conference with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Duque spoke as Pompeo rounded off a three-day tour of Venezuela's neighbors designed to increase pressure on the socialist leader to leave power. Duque, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-45439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n