(Yahoo!)
Roberta Rampton February 23, 2019
WASHINGTON - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence plans to have his first meeting with Venezuela's Juan Guaido in Colombia on Monday, Pence aides said, in a signal of support for the opposition leader after a weekend of violence.
On Saturday, troops loyal to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro blocked convoys of U.S. humanitarian aid from crossing from Colombia to Venezuela, using teargas and rubber bullets and killing two protesters.
The violence could lead the United States to impose new sanctions as early as Monday to cut off the Maduro's government access to revenues.
Pence is traveling to the Colombian capital Bogota to meet with the Lima Group of regional leaders who recognize Guaido as the legitimate leader of Venezuela after Maduro held elections last year which were dismissed as fraudulent.
A senior U.S. official told reporters on Friday that Pence would be prepared to announce new sanctions at the meeting if the aid was turned back, - adding to pressure from sanctions on state-owned oil company PDVSA.
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