Blinken talks with Lasso on Venezuela and US support for Ecuador

The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, spoke by telephone on Friday with the president-elect of Ecuador, conservative Guillermo Lasso, about strengthening the "already vibrant" relationship between their countries and the commitment to work with their allies to "restore democracy" in Venezuela.

In a statement, the State Department said that "both reaffirmed that they will work with their allies to restore democracy in Venezuela".

Blinken noted that Ecuador has taken in more than 430,000 Venezuelan migrants and reiterated the US commitment to support the country "to help meet its growing humanitarian needs".

The two men, according to the official version of the US government, "discussed strengthening the already vibrant bilateral cooperative relationship between the US and Ecuador on trade and investment, governance, security, counter-narcotics, human rights, and regional issues".

Likewise, the head of US diplomacy expressed Washington's commitment to maintain bilateral cooperation to revitalise their economies in the wake of the pandemic.

On 13 April, the US government expressed its desire to work with Lasso and his vice-president, Alfredo Borrero, after his inauguration on 24 May.