Pence's "freedom loving" bullshit fronts for his officious Christianism

He must have referred to Venezuelans as "freedom loving" more than 6 times.

I listened to bits of his speech live on BBC World Service.

And then he told us about the freedom loving Lord.

It is in some degree because of the sanctions that the Venezuelan economy is a mess and there are critical shortages of food and medicine.

We are squeezing the shit out of the people.

Ours is a government of hostage takers

In Colombia, Vice Pres. Pence announces more sanctions against Venezuela

Vice President Mike Pence announced from Colombia on Monday new sanctions against allies of embattled Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and said the U.S. is sending another $56 million to its neighbors to help them cope with the influx of migrants fleeing Venezuela's crisis.

Pence traveled to the Colombian capital, Bogotá, to meet with members of a regional coalition and Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó to discuss the next steps aimed at ousting Maduro.

The $56 million for Venezuela's neighbors is in addition to $139 million the U.S. has already provided, according to Pence.

. . . .

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in interviews on "Fox News Sunday" and CNN's "State of the Union," did not rule out U.S. military force but said "there are more sanctions to be had."

But any additional sanctions will increase the suffering of the Venezuelan people and may lead to more political violence, said Mark Weisbrot, the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, who advocates a negotiated end to the political crisis.

"The 'humanitarian aid' this weekend was a public relations stunt, since the aid was just a tiny fraction of the food and medicine that they are depriving Venezuelans of with the sanctions," Weisbrot said. 

"As the Trump administration admitted, it was an attempt to get the Venezuelan military to disobey Maduro. It was a farce, and it failed."