Washington _ Agencies
US Treasury Secretary Stephen Menshain said the United States would increase financial and diplomatic pressure on Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro´s government.
In a statement issued late Friday, Menoshin accused Maduro´s lenders of benefiting from the "secret sale" of Venezuela´s resources and worsening the crisis that pushed 2.6 million Venezuelans to flee the country. No state was mentioned.
"We agreed to continue our efforts to meet the challenges posed by the regime, including supporting the Venezuelan people, strengthening diplomatic and financial pressure on Maduro´s regime, and protecting our financial systems from illegal and corrupt financial flows from Venezuela," Menoshin said.
Menoshin met with finance ministers from Europe and Latin America on Friday on the sidelines of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings in Bali, Indonesia, to discuss the crisis in Venezuela.
"Every year that Maduro´s destructive policies continue, Venezuela loses many of its people, much of its economic capacity, and much of its institutional integrity--which makes Venezuela´s ability to recover economically from this catastrophe increasingly difficult and costly," he said.
During the meeting, the Ministers agreed to work on additional funding to alleviate the crisis, he said.
