"We call on members of the OAS to suspend Venezuela from the Organization of American States, this is an institution dedicated to democracy," Pence said.
He also urged the OAS member states to impose visa and financial restrictions "on corrupt Venezuelan leaders."
"The time has come… to cut off Venezuelan corrupt leaders from laundering money through your financial systems," Pence said. "The time has come to enact visa restrictions to prevent Venezuela's leaders from entering your nations."
Earlier in the day, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on three Venezuelan persons and 20 entities for narcotics trafficking.
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"The two sanctioned people include Pedro Luis Martin Olivares as a significant foreign narcotics trafficker pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act Walter Alexander Del Nogal Marquez (Del Nogal) and Mario Antonio Rodriguez Espinoza (Rodriguez) for providing financial or technological support, or goods or services in support of the international drug trafficking activities of Martin," the release said.
OFAC also designated 16 companies in Venezuela and four in Panama owned or controlled by these three individuals, the release added. Among the entities sanctioned by the US government include D2 Imagineering, Financial Corporation Fincorp, Grupo Control 2004, and Inmuebles Y Desarrollos West Point, among others.
The Venezuelan presidential election is scheduled for May 20. There are five candidates for the post: incumbent President Nicholas Maduro, opposition leader Henri Falcon, Reinaldo Quijada, Luis Ratti and Javier Bertucci. According to analysts, the election's front-runners are Maduro and Falcon.
US-Venezuelan relations have been tense for decades with Caracas regularly blaming Washington for interfering in its internal affairs and exerting economic and political pressure on Venezuela.
