Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday suggested maintaining economic pressure against Venezuela’s socialist regime as a means to promote change in the country.
The Pope’s comments appear to be a call to maintain sanctions against the authoritarian regime led by socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro — such as those imposed by President Donald Trump.
The Pope, returning from his trip to Lebanon, referred to the rising tensions between the United States and Venezuela in remarks given to reporters aboard the papal plane on the way back to Rome.
Speaking in Spanish, Pope Leo said that, with regards to Venezuela, the Vatican is looking for ways to calm the situation alongside the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference, “seeking above all the good of the people, because so often it is the people who suffer in these situations. It is not the authorities.”
“The voices coming from the United States change with certain frequency at times, we must see. On the one hand, it seems that there has been a telephone conversation between the two presidents,” Pope Leo said.
“On the other hand, there is that danger, that possibility of some activity, some operation, even invading Venezuelan territory. I don’t know any more than that,” he continued. “Again, I think it’s better to look for ways to engage in dialogue, perhaps pressure, even economic pressure, but looking for another way to change if that’s what they decide to do in the United States.”
Pope Leo’s suggestion to maintain economic pressure on the Venezuelan regime comes after the United States, under the administration of President Donald Trump, spearheaded international efforts over the years to impose human rights sanctions against Nicolás Maduro and members and collaborators of his authoritarian socialist regime.
President Trump first imposed sanctions on Maduro in 2017, at a time when the socialist regime had yet another sham election to fraudulently maintain control of Venezuela, with numerous other sanctions imposed against the rogue regime over the years. Since then, other countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, and the European Union followed President Trump in imposing sanctions against Maduro regime members.
Most notably, in January 2019, the Trump administration sanctioned the state-owned oil company PDVSA in response to human rights violations committed by the Maduro regime against its own people. The sanctions effectively deprived Maduro’s repressive apparatus of its main source of income.
The PDVSA sanctions were rescinded for a six-month period between late 2023 and early 2024 by former President Joe Biden as part of a generous broader sanctions relief package that Biden awarded to Maduro in exchange for vague promises towards holding a “free and fair election” in 2024.
No such free election ever took place and, instead of resulting in its alleged intended purpose, Maduro ramped up his brutal repression of dissidents as the sanctions relief package allowed him to freely sell oil in United States and international markets. Other concessions granted by Biden reportedly yielded new income streams for the Venezuelan regime.
United States courts indicted Maduro in 2020 on multiple narco-terrorism charges and accused him of leading the Cartel of the Suns, an international cocaine trafficking operation allegedly run by top members of the Venezuelan regime and the nation’s military that, according to court documents, has long sought to “flood” the United States with cocaine to harm its people.
The United States maintains an active $50 million bounty on any information that can lead to Maduro’s arrest and/or conviction.
The Venezuelan dictator has repeatedly accused the United States of allegedly staging an “invasion” of Venezuela through the U.S. military’s ongoing efforts to combat drug traffickers in the Caribbean, which have so far resulted in several successful strikes against drug-trafficking vessels. According to Maduro, President Trump’s efforts to curb the flow of drugs entering the United States is instead part of a plan to cause a regime change in Venezuela and “steal” Venezuela’s oil reserves.
President Trump confirmed over the weekend that he recently spoke with Maduro over the phone, but did not disclose details of the call. Reports from both the Miami Herald and Reuters, citing unnamed sources, say President Trump issued an “ultimatum” to Maduro, demanding he depart immediately from the country and allow the restoration of democracy in Venezuela in exchange for safe passage for Maduro and his family.
Maduro reportedly presented a counter-demand and conditioned his departure on him and his family receiving “full legal amnesty” and the removal of U.S. sanctions on him, his family, and over 100 sanctioned members of his regime.
On Monday, hours after President Trump confirmed his call with Maduro, the Venezuelan dictator resurfaced at an official regime event where he delivered a new performance of the “Not War, Yes Peace” remix song of his past “English” messages calling for peace with the United States.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.