Pence expects more help from Ecuador to deal with the "collapse" of Venezuelan democracy

Quito .- The Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence, expressed Tuesday at a meeting with the President of Ecuador, Lenin Moreno, who expects the Andean country " closer collaboration "to deal with the" collapse "of the Venezuelan dictatorship. "

" Mr. President, we seek to work more closely in the face of the collapse of Venezuelan dictatorship and depravity, "Pence told Moreno, as reported by Efe.

This was stated at the beginning of a formal meeting in Carondelet's presidential palace, in which Ecuadorian ministers of state and the delegation accompanying the second US president participated in his official visit to Ecuador.

Pence reiterated his country's position that some countries in the region could redouble efforts to deal with the political and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela.

"We believe that more needs to be done, President (Donald) Trump made it clear that the United States would not stand by while Venezuela collapsed, "he added.

On the other hand, he was grateful "efforts to pleaded by Ecuador "with regard to the issue, but he insisted that the US administration aspires to" find new ways of working with other nations of the world ". hemisphere". see that not only the humanitarian aid that is provided to the Venezuelan people continues to arrive, but to see how democracy is restored. "

Thus, reaffirmed that the United States seeks to see how" the near 350,000 Venezuelans who fled their country through Ecuador – (part of the) more than two million abandoned it for depravity – be able to come back, "he said.

Earlier this month, Pence telephoned Moreno to talk about the bilateral relationship and failed to convince him to vote in favor of the OAS Venezuela's suspension process, as he made the Lima group. It brings together more than a dozen countries and must be content with an Ecuadorian abstention.

Ecuador maintained under the current Moreno government an equidistant position on Venezuela, based on the constitutional principle of non-interference.

However, after the May presidential elections in Venezuela, he expressed for the first time his concern about the situation in that country and "vigorously" rejected the deaths that occurred during the demonstrations against the government of Nicolás Maduro.

Ecuador also took the initiative to hold a consultation in Venezuela under international supervision to endorse Maduro's reelection.

For his part, Mr. Moreno thanked the Vice President of the United States for his visit and declared that he was giving "a new impulse, a new air" to bilateral relations and that he hoped that "never, in life, would they suffer from deterioration".

"We expect that mutual respect and support will be so important to leave this space in which, not at the initiative of the Ecuadorians, but because unfortunately for bad decisions we are", Moreno said, referring to the decade his predecessor, Rafael Correa, ruled, in which there was a significant cooling of relations.

The Ecuadorian leader stressed that under his government, "we are doing things right, we are putting things in order, we are transparent and we are strengthening our democracy," he said.