WASHINGTON: The Obama administration has intensified its push for a recall vote against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, even as the government there has made it clear that it’s unwilling to allow a vote that could put the opposition in power.
Secretary of State John Kerry escalated U.S. rhetoric against the Maduro administration in recent weeks during diplomatic visits to Colombia and Argentina. Speaking in Buenos Aires at the Argentine Foreign Ministry, Kerry accused the Venezuelan government of delaying tactics and called for the vote to happen this year — the first time he’d specified a timetable.
“We have deep concerns right now about Venezuela’s unwillingness to engage in a robust, productive way in the dialogue and to heed the needs of the people of Venezuela,” Kerry said this month at a joint news conference with Argentine Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra.
The stepped-up rhetoric reflects U.S. acknowledgment that the entrenched Venezuelan leaders are more willing to fight to remain in power than the administration had hoped after the opposition took control of the country’s legislature in voting last year.
Polls find that Maduro would likely be trounced in a recall vote. But he has told supporters that if a vote happens, it won’t be until next year.