US asks Organization of American States to suspend Venezuela

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States on Monday asked the countries of the Western Hemisphere to suspend Venezuela from the 35-nation Organization of American States.

Vice President Mike Pence also urged member states to cut off Venezuelan leaders from their financial systems and to enact visa restrictions.

"To uphold the democracy and freedom, we call the members of the OAS to suspend Venezuela from the Organization of American States," said Pence, the first U.S. vice president to address the group since Al Gore in 1994.

Venezuela, which in April 2017 started a two-year process to abandon the Washington-based OAS, did not send an official to hear Pence's speech and did not react immediately.