Rubio travels to meet Caribbean leaders as US squeezes Cuba, Venezuela

WASHINGTON, Feb 23 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will hold talks with Caribbean leaders on regional security, and efforts to counter migration and drug trafficking in Saint Kitts and Nevis on Wednesday as Washington seeks to ramp up pressure on Cuba’s leaders while seeking to steer Venezuela in the wake of the operation to seize President Nicolas Maduro.

“During his visit, the secretary will reaffirm the United States’ commitment to working with CARICOM member states to enhance stability and prosperity in our hemisphere,” spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement on Monday, referring to the Caribbean Community that comprises 15 member states and five associated members.

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Discussions would also cover economic growth, health and energy security, Pigott said.

Rubio, the son of Cuban exiles, has been a leading voice in the Trump administration’s pressure campaigns directed at the left-wing leaders of Venezuela and Cuba, which are not CARICOM members.

Trump officials have been pressing an interim administration in Caracas to allow U.S. firms access to oil and to instigate reforms since the U.S. military launched an attack on Venezuela on January 3, seizing Maduro and his wife and killing dozens of people, including 32 Cuban bodyguards.

The U.S. is preventing oil shipments from reaching Cuba, worsening an existing energy shortage, and Trump has urged the island’s communist leaders to reach a deal to ease the growing humanitarian crisis.

Reporting by Simon Lewis; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Katharine Jackson and Chizu Nomiyama

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