WASHINGTON—U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed on Tuesday that Washington would work with partners in the region to maintain pressure on Venezuelan regime leader Nicolas Maduro for a peaceful return to democracy. In pre-recorded remarks to a conference on Latin America, Blinken also said the Biden administration would continue criticism of the “repression of human rights” in Cuba. Blinken’s stern words came just a day after a senior White House official made clear in an interview with Reuters that the administration was in no rush to ease sanctions on Maduro’s Socialist government or make major gestures toward Communist-ruled Havana. That official’s comments appeared aimed at dampening speculation that President Joe Biden might start loosening the screws on Venezuela in response to Maduro’s agreement to allow the World Food Programme (WFP) to begin operating there and the release to house arrest of six former executives of U.S.-based Citgo in an …