WASHINGTON, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will kick off a week-long tour to five countries in Latin America next week, with the crisis in Venezuela as a focus of talks, the U.S. State Department said on Friday.
The trip, which is slated between Feb. 1-7, will take Tillerson to Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Colombia and Jamaica, where he will engage with leaders of the countries on topics of energy security, democracy and others, said U.S. State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert in a statement.
During his stay, Tillerson will "advocate for increased regional attention to the crisis in Venezuela," Nauert added.
Venezuela has been grappling with a severe economic crisis sparked by plummeting oil prices. Venezuelan government claimed that the crisis has been aggravated by the "economic warfare" unleashed by the U.S.-backed right-wing opposition.
Venezuela has over 3 billion U.S. dollars blocked in the international financial system due to U.S. economic sanctions, Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza said in December.
In August of 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order prohibiting Americans or those living in the United States from dealing in new debt and equity issued by the government of Venezuela and its state oil company. The order also prohibited dividend payments to the Venezuelan government.
