US, Venezuela opposition to discuss ways to oust Maduro

WASHINGTON, Feb 25 (AP): The United States is planning new ways to pressure Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to give up power and other means to provide assistance to the people of the economically devastated South American nation after a weekend effort failed to deliver aid.

Vice President Mike Pence travels Monday to the Colombian capital to meet with members of a regional coalition and Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido to discuss the next steps aimed at ousting Maduro.

A senior administration official said Pence is expected to announce "clear actions" as he speaks to members of the Lima Group, a coalition of more than a dozen nations organized to address the crisis in Venezuela.

"We are going to show the world and Maduro that the United States stands with the people of Venezuela and that the United States stands with Guaido," the official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity to preview the speech in Bogota. "And we are going to continue to stand with him until democracy is restored and humanitarian aid gets to where it needs to go."

Pence's appearance before the Lima Group comes two days after a US-backed effort to deliver humanitarian across the border from Colombia ended in violence, with forces loyal to Maduro firing tear gas and buckshot on activists accompanying the supplies and setting the material on fire. Two people were killed and at least 300 wounded.

For weeks, the US and regional allies had been amassing emergency food and medical kits on Venezuela's borders in anticipation of carrying out a "humanitarian avalanche" by land and sea to undermine Maduro's rule.

Guaido, who has been recognised as interim president by the US and 50 other governments who say Maduro's re-election last year was illegitimate, has called on the international community to consider "all options" to resolve Venezuela's crisis.