WASHINGTON, United States (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence on Monday asked the countries of the Western Hemisphere to suspend Venezuela from the 35-nation Organisation of American States.

Pence also urged member states to cut off Venezuelan leaders from their financial systems and to enact visa restrictions.

“To uphold the democracy and freedom, we call the members of the OAS to suspend Venezuela from the Organisation of American States,” said Pence, the first US vice president to address the group since Al Gore in 1994.

Pence asked Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to suspend the May 20 presidential election, which he called “no more than fraud and sham.” Pence also urged Maduro to “open Venezuela to international aid, and do it now.”

Venezuela has refused to allow international aid, alleging that would amount to foreign intervention. The South American nation also denies there is an ongoing humanitarian crisis, even though thousands of Venezuelans have fled to other countries in the region.

Venezuela did not send an official to hear Pence’s speech, but minutes later Samuel Moncada, Venezuela’s deputy foreign relations minister for North America, called Pence remarks a “farce” and a “monstrosity”.

Moncada said in April 2017 his country started a two-year process to withdraw from the Washington-based Organisation of American States.

“We want to leave. We are counting the days so we can leave, but this is the most dangerous place in the world for Venezuela and I have to show up to defend Venezuela,” he said.

Moncada also said there is “no possibility” that the May 20 election does not take place. “They are an expression of our sovereignty,” he said.

Pence also said during the speech that the Trump administration had designated a former official of the Venezuelan intelligence service, two of his aides and 20 companies under their control as narcotics traffickers.

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said Pedro Luis Martin Olivares was indicted in 2015 by a grand jury in Florida for willfully conspiring to distribute a controlled substance into the United States and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance on board an aircraft registered in the United States.

Additionally, OFAC imposed sanctions on Walter Alexander Del Nogal Marquez and Mario Antonio Rodriguez Espinoza for assisting Martin and on 20 companies in Venezuela and Panama that are owned or controlled by those three individuals.

The action freezes any of their assets in the US or any assets held by people in the US.

Those sanctioned Monday are in addition to the dozens of current and former Venezuelan officials the US already has targeted.

They include Vice President Tareck El Aissami for alleged involvement in international drug trafficking. The US also has imposed economic sanctions on Venezuela at a time when it’s seeking to refinance a huge international debt.