With all due respect, Mr. Ambassador, you shouldn't be here.

That's Vice President Mike Pence this week at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council

on Venezuela.

He called for the elected President Nicolas Maduro to be replaced by opposition leader Juan

Guaido. The time has come for the United Nations to recognize interim President Juan Guido as the legitimate

president of Venezuela and seat his representative in this body.

This body should revoke the credentials of Venezuela's representative to the United Nations,

recognize interim President Juan Guido, and seat the representative of the

free Venezuelan government in this body without delay. With all due respect, Mr. Ambassador,

you shouldn't be here. You should return to Venezuela and tell Nicholas Maduro that his time is up.

Pence repeated the phrase, all options are on the table, but Russia's UN ambassador accused the U.S.

of provoking the crisis in order to replace an elected leader with what he called an American

pawn. The council took no action but did discuss Venezuela's humanitarian crisis.

Three million people, roughly 10% of the population, have left Venezuela in the past few

years. That leaves 87% of remaining citizens in poverty. Starting in January, the Trump

administration put sanctions on Venezuelan oil. Here again, Vice President Pence.

And since oil is the lifeblood of that corrupt regime, the United States of America

sanctioned Venezuela's state-owned oil company, Peda Vesa.

And today, we're taking action against a vital source of the Maduro regime's wealth.

At the direction of President Donald Trump, the United States of America will sanction

34 vessels owned or operated by Peta Vesa, as well as two additional companies that transport

Venezuelan crude oil to Cuba.

...