Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been arrogantly thumbing his nose in the faces of Americans for years, but he is changing his tune after getting hit with economic sanctions. As he struggles to maintain power amidst the collapse of his socialist regime, he suddenly wants to talk to President Trump.
“If he (Trump) is so interested in Venezuela, here I am,” Maduro said during a recent three-hour speech. “Mr Donald Trump, here is my hand.”
Previously, the socialist despot had been an angry critic of the Trump administration. He even referred to Trump contemptuously as an emperor just last month before the economic sanctions were finalized.
“We have a surprise for the foreign governments,” Maduro said in July. “We have a surprise for the emperor Donald Trump, and that surprise is called the July 30 election, when the people will teach imperialism and the foreign vassal governments a lesson.”
The election, of course, was a total sham meant to prop up Maduro’s fledging regime as the country collapses around him. The socialist government of the oil-rich Venezuela spent itself into insolvency, and predictably tried to print their way out of the calamity. What has resulted are 700 percent annual inflation rates and widespread economic despair. The Venezuelan capital, Caracas, has become the murder capital of the world as people starve in the streets with the situation only worsening with each passing day.
If Maduro is looking for a bailout for the mess he has caused, he should not expect one from President Trump. He has put dictators around the world on notice, most notably North Korea’s petulant tyrant Kim Jong Un. Trump has offered caustic remarks toward Maduro and his abusive human rights record.
“The United States condemns the actions of the Maduro dictatorship… The United States holds Maduro – who publicly announced just hours earlier that he would move against his political opposition – personally responsible… We reiterate our call for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners,” Trump said in a press release earlier this month after Maduro jailed two of his prominent opposition figures.