While the USA and its allies have recognized Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido as the legitimate leader of that country, China, Russia and Turkey have continued to maintain relations with the government of President Maduro. China, in turn, berated Pompeo for his claims that Beijing's friendship with Latin American countries is "pretended".
The Lima Group is made up of 12 countries in the South American region as well as Canada.
On Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry slammed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's recent allegations related to Moscow's "intervention in Venezuela" as unacceptable.
This comes after National Security Adviser John Bolton instructed acting Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan last week to formulate ideas on how to deal with the Venezuela crisis.
Maduro reminded the crowd that a year ago he set the goal of 2 million military members and said "we have accomplished our mission", calling for the additional one million members to join and "defend our territory and borders".
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However, later, Keim said "there's definitely been some attention" from teams about the first pick. They have more than enough depth at the position but need a lot of help on the edge.
And even though Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently said that "all options" remain on the table for dealing with Venezuela, several Pentagon officials continue to say there is no appetite at the Department of Defense for using USA military force against the Venezuelan regime to try to force it from power. That's not in the best interests of the South American people, and the United States stands ready. "We strongly oppose this".
According to the South China Morning Post, Lu Kang, a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, said during a press conference Monday that the US was spreading lies and slandering China.
Separately, he warned that "every single tool and every single option" for what he described as USA efforts "to restore democracy" in Venezuela remains on the table. The words and deeds are despicable.
While officials continue to insist "all options are on the table", Pentagon officials say that they are trying to come up with plans that stop short of direct military invasion or any combat operations.
Last Friday in Chile, as part of his four-nation Latin America tour that ended Sunday, Pompeo had accused China of "bankrolling" Maduro's regime which has "helped precipitate and prolong the crisis in that country".
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