VP Pence to visit Miami’s Venezuelan enclave

To cap off his recent trip to Latin America, Vice President Mike Pence will travel Wednesday to Miami — the region’s unofficial capital — to keep focusing on Venezuela’s political crisis.

The White House has yet to publicly announce the trip. But according to an invitation obtained by the Miami Herald, Pence is scheduled to deliver remarks at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Doral, Miami’s Venezuelan enclave.

Pence is also likely to stop by the U.S. Southern Command, whose headquarters are in Doral, though neither Southcom nor the White House would confirm his plans Monday.

Last week, Pence got an earful from regional allies about President Donald Trump’s offhand remark that the U.S. might consider a “military option” against the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

The vice president, who has become something of a Trump translator, tried to reassure Colombia, Argentina, Chile and Panama that the White House prefers international pressure against Maduro and his newly inaugurated national constituent assembly, which effectively usurped the power of Venezuela’s last remaining independent branch of government.

Trump threatened economic action against Venezuela, but his administration has yet to impose any penalties beyond financial sanctions against current and former members of Maduro’s government.

Our Lady of Guadalupe has a Venezuelan-born pastor, the Rev. Israel Mago. Doral has so many immigrants from the South American country that the city is known as Doralzuela.

El Nuevo Herald staff writer Nora Gámez Torres contributed to this report.

This story was originally published August 21, 2017 at 2:12 PM with the headline "VP Pence to visit Miami’s Venezuelan enclave."