Trump to call on Venezuela military officials to ‘work toward democracy’

President Trump will reportedly call on Venezuela’s military officials to support the country’s self-declared interim president, Juan Guaidó, in a speech scheduled to be delivered on Monday afternoon in Miami.

In excerpts of the speech obtained by Reuters, Trump urges Venezuelan military officials who still support President Nicolás Maduro to allow for a peaceful transition of power to a new government.

{mosads}“Venezuelan military officials have a clear choice — work toward democracy for their future and the future of their families, or they will lose everything they have,” Trump plans to say, according to the excerpts.

“The United States knows where military officials and their families have money hidden throughout the world,” he will reportedly add.

In the speech, Trump will also reportedly urge the military to allow aid packages of food and other goods into the country, which have been piling up in a Colombian border city.

The president’s planned comments come as the administration has already moved to allow Guaidó to access bank accounts with funds previously controlled by Maduro’s government in the U.S., a major step toward legitimacy for the self-appointed president.

Trump announced official support for Guaidó earlier this year, and the White House has urged Maduro to hand over power to Guaidó, head of the country’s National Assembly.

“In its role as the only legitimate branch of government duly elected by the Venezuelan people, the National Assembly invoked the country’s Constitution to declare Nicolás Maduro illegitimate, and the office of the presidency therefore vacant. The people of Venezuela have courageously spoken out against Maduro and his regime and demanded freedom and the rule of law,” Trump said in late January.