Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday said it was only a matter of time before Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro would leave power, following an unsuccessful uprising this week.
Maduro's government appears to remain in control of the troubled South American nation despite a call this week by Trump administration-backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó for the Venezuelan people to oust Maduro.
Pompeo — who said Tuesday that Maduro was preparing to flee to Cuba before being talked out of it by Russia — told "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace that "these things sometimes take time."
"We know it's going to happen," he said.
Pressed by Wallace on whether there was a U.S. intelligence failure on how quickly Maduro's ouster would come to pass, Pompeo refused to share details on what had informed the administration's statements in recent days.
"If you think about where this country was 90 days ago, the Venezuelan people should be very proud," Pompeo said. "They're much closer to having democracy restored and having their country back on the right track than they were 90 days ago."
Pompeo said he would tell Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov tomorrow that "every country must get out [of Venezuela], including the Russians."
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine