The United States does not set deadlines for a change in government in Venezuela, but is confident that President Nicolas Maduro will not remain in power, stated James Story, the U.S. charge d’affaires for Venezuela, Reuters reported.

“There’s no timeline on a return to democracy but it is coming, of that I’m certain,” James Story noted. “This was never going to be something that was quite easy.”

According to him, the allegations that US sanctions have caused Venezuela’s problems are groundless.

“The sanctions that have hit the big parts of the economy are very recent,” he said. “We have multiple options when it comes to how we engage on economic sanctions, how we deploy them, how we use general licenses, how we make sure that we’re trying to have a minimum impact on people.”