Pompeo discusses Venezuela tensions on South American trip
AP
1546386719000

pompeo xinhua.JPG

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivers a speech regarding US policy after withdrawing from Iran nuclear deal at the Heritage Foundation in Washington D.C., the United States, on May 21, 2018. (File Photo: Xinhua)

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has discussed tensions over Venezuela while on a South America trip.

State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino told reporters that Pompeo met Tuesday with Peru’s foreign minister, Nestor Bardales. The US says Pompeo thanked Peru for taking in hundreds of thousands of migrants from Venezuela, where 2.3 million people have fled their nation’s hyperinflation and food and medical shortages over the past three years.

The US says Pompeo discussed with the Peruvian envoy "the need to increase pressure" on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to improve conditions there.

The meeting was in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, where Pompeo later Tuesday will be attending the inauguration of Brazil’s new far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro.