Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday called US Vice President Mike Pence a “viper” and vowed to defeat what he called Washington’s attempts to force him from power.
Pence, who arrived in Ecuador on Wednesday as part of a tour of South America, is seeking to boost regional pressure on Venezuela following Maduro’s reelection last month in a vote that the US said was fraudulent.
“Every time the poisonous viper Mike Pence opens his mouth, I feel stronger,” the socialist leader said in a televised speech. “We have defeated you and we are going to defeat [you] wherever you are.”
Photo: EPA
Maduro says that the US is seeking to overthrow his government to seize the OPEC nation’s oil and mineral wealth, and accuses Washington of leading an “economic war” against the nation.
US President Donald Trump has imposed economic sanctions on Maduro and members of his Cabinet on accusations that they are undermining democracy and violating human rights.
Meanwhile, Pence and his wife offered toys and US support to Venezuelan migrants who described the turmoil in their homeland that prompted them to flee.
Venezuelans at a shelter in the city of Manaus in the Brazilian Amazon spoke of the dire conditions back home, the difficulty of fleeing their country and the envy that friends and families left behind feel for those who got out.
“For me, it’s really weird staying in another country and staying here, but I have friends there who say: ‘I want to be you. I want to stay there,’” Nicoll Rengel, a 22-year-old from Monagas, Venezuela, told the Pences in English. “We need help right now. Our country needs help.”
Pence promised her that the US would “keep helping until democracy is restored in Venezuela.”
The shelter behind the Santa Catarina church houses about 120 people and opened a month ago to help cope with the flood of Venezuelans into Brazil.
Venezuela’s economy is in a deep depression and shortages of food and medicine have sent people fleeing by the tens of thousands into neighboring countries.
On Tuesday, after meeting with Brazilian President Michel Temer, Pence announced that the US would give nearly US$10 million more to support Venezuelan migrants, US$1.2 million of whom would go to Brazil.
“[The] American people stand with the people of Venezuela who are struggling under dictatorship, and we are grateful for the hospitality of Brazil and this church,” Pence told the migrants. “We will continue to stand with you until your homeland is restored.”
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese