U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is meeting Friday with Venezuelan exiles and community leaders in Miami, Florida.
The vice president is participating in a round table discussion with the exiles and community leaders at a Spanish-speaking worship center.
He also is expected to deliver remarks at a solidarity event held at the same location, the Iglesia Doral Jesus Worship Center.
On Thursday, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said security forces showed up at his family’s Caracas apartment In an effort to intimidate him.
In a tweet, Guaido said police agents arrived at the apartment asking for Guaido’s wife, Fabiana. Guaido said the incident happened while his 20-month-old daughter was home with her grandmother. He said if anything happened to the child he would hold embattled socialist leader Nicolas Maduro responsible. There was no immediate response from the Maduro government.
In comments to reporters, Guaido later thanked his neighbors who rushed to the apartment banging pots and pans to call attention to the police visit. He said the neighbors stayed at the apartment to protect his family while agents searched the premises.
WATCH: Guaido on attempt to intimidate his family
Guaido, the president of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, declared himself interim president last week after the Assembly declared that Maduro’s re-election last May was illegitimate, as most opposition candidates either boycotted the race or were barred from running.
The United States has recognized Guaido as interim president.
Guaido said in a New York Times opinion piece earlier this week that more than 50 countries have either recognized him as interim president, or recognized the National Assembly as the legitimate authority in Venezuela. He says he has begun appointing ambassadors and “locating and recovering national assets tied up abroad.”
Reuters news service quotes two EU diplomats as saying European Union governments have announced they will move to recognize Guaido next week as Venezuela’s interim president.
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