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Venezuela's Maduro seeks to capitalize on Trump's military threat

15 August 2017 00:30 (UTC +04:00)

While U.S. Vice President Mike Pence travels to Latin America tamping down concern over his boss's threat of possible military action in Venezuela, the country's leader Nicolas Maduro sought to capitalize on local outrage by holding an "anti-imperialist" protest on Monday, APA reports quoting Reuters.

The march started with a late morning rally and was expected to end at the presidential palace where Maduro will address the crowd, while a conciliatory Pence continued a tour of the region that began in Colombia on Sunday.

In Cartagena, Pence backpedaled from President Donald Trump's statement last week that a "military option" was on the table for Venezuela.

The vice president said the U.S. administration is confident that a peaceful solution could be found to the crisis in oil-rich but economically ailing Venezuela, where more than 120 have died in anti-Maduro protests since April.