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."

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."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Catherine Garcia

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.