Pompeo says Putin talked Maduro out of leaving Venezuela for Cuba


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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."
Pompeo said Maduro was headed for Havana. Blitzer asked if Maduro would have been allowed to safely leave Venezuela, and Pompeo sidestepped the question. "Mr. Maduro understands what will happen if he gets on that airplane," he said. "He knows our expectations."
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A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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