“It is unquestionable that over the last two years there has been profound transformation across Latin America," said U.S. Vice President Mike Pence at the 49th Washington Conference on the Americas. Pence's remarks covered U.S. relations with countries from Ecuador to Brazil, but focused, in large part, on supporting a democratic transition in Venezuela. He outlined the next steps the Trump administration is ready to take to pressure the Maduro regime, including holding Venezuelan Supreme Court magistrates accountable and removing sanctions on military leaders willing to defect.

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At the 49th Washington Conference on the Americas, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) received the 2019 Chairman’s Award from AS/COA Board Chair Andrés Gluski, who highlighted the senior senator from Florida’s leadership on Capitol Hill on U.S. policy toward Latin America and on Venezuela, in particular. Rubio, chairman of the Senate's Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, then spoke about the situation in Venezuela and how the country is part of what he described as a global battle between totalitarianism and democracy. “A lot of chavistas are too materialistic to be communists,” he said, dismissing the notion that loyalists to Nicolás Maduro are ideologues and saying that the regime instead is held together by a desire to stay in power so chavistas can protect their families and the millions of dollars they’ve stashed in foreign banks.

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“There’s a tremendous tragedy, a catastrophe of healthcare in Venezuela,” said U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar in a conversation with AS/COA Vice President Eric Farnsworth. “But when freedom comes, the sheer lack of infrastructure provides an opportunity to build a quality health system from the ground up,” he said at the event hosted by Council of the Americas in Washington, DC. Azar outlined U.S. efforts to address Venezuela’s public health crisis as he prepares to meet with Latin American leaders in Peru. The secretary made clear that the response to the crisis should be region-led and not U.S.-led, though the United States, he said, will provide “immeasurable financial support and human resources.” Azar also discussed how the private sector should “not wait,” begin to rebuild Venezuela’s healthcare system as soon as possible.