US President Donald Trump’s national security adviser Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster has met with Venezuela’s opposition leader and Parliament Speaker Julio Borges, who seek to oust the oil-rich country’s President Nicolas Maduro amid an economic crisis fueled by the 2014 crash of oil prices.
The high-level meeting at the White House on Saturday centered on Venezuela’s current internal crisis and opposition-led anti-government protests as well as efforts to remove the socialist government that has repeatedly accused Washington of interference in its domestic affairs in a bid to bring to power a US-friendly administration.
According to an official White House statement, “They discussed the ongoing crisis in Venezuela and the need for the government to adhere to the Venezuelan Constitution, release political prisoners, respect the National Assembly, and hold free and democratic elections.”
The statement further read, “They agreed that there…