Pompeo says Putin talked Maduro out of leaving Venezuela for Cuba

Mike Pompeo.
(Image credit: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro had been getting ready to depart the country for Cuba, but Russian President Vladimir Putin stopped him.

The embattled Venezuelan leader has refused to step down, despite violent protests against his government and most of the world recognizing Juan Guaidó as the country's acting president. Pompeo told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that "it's been a long time since anyone's seen Maduro," and he "had an airplane on the tarmac, he was ready to leave this morning, as we understand it, and the Russians indicated he should stay."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.