Venezuela crisis: Defiant Nicolas Maduro 'compares Donald Trump to leader of KKK'

Donald Trump has apparently been compared to the 'head of the KKK' by embattled Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro
AP
Hatty Collier4 February 2019

Embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has reportedly compared Donald Trump to the “head of the KKK”.

He apparently made the remarks as he continued to defy efforts by Western powers to recognise his opponent Juan Guaido as acting president.

Mr Maduro said he would resist such a move and repeated his assertion that the US President would like to turn his country into a “new Vietnam”.

He was quoted by Sky Italia as saying: “Europe and the world need to know that the White House has been taken over by an extremist.

“It is like the Klu Klux Klan arrived in the White House and Donald Trump is the head of the KKK. He’s surrounded by a group of people they call the Venezuela team.”

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
AP

According to Sky Italia, he also said that US vice president Mike Pence and national security adviser to Mr Trump John Bolton were part of the “supremacist” group who dedicate themselves “daily” to “conspire against Venezuela.”

It comes after major European nations including the UK, Germany and Spain on Monday recognised Venezuela’s opposition leader Mr Guaido as the country’s interim president.

The coordinated move, which also involves Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands, came after the expiry of an eight-day deadline the countries set last weekend for President Nicolás Maduro to call for a new vote.

France has said Mr Guaido has the right to organise an election given the socialist government's refusal.

Opposition leader Juan Guaido gestures at thousands of supporters
AFP/Getty Images

Mr Maduro, accused of running the nation like a dictatorship and wrecking its economy, has said Europe's ruling elite are sycophantically following Mr Trump's agenda.

Russia hit back at the coordinated move, stating on Monday that it was an attempt to legitimise Mr Guaido's illegal attempt to seize power and amounted to foreign meddling.

Both Russia and China, who have poured billions of dollars of investment and loans into the OPEC nation, support Mr Maduro.

Mr Guaido, who leads the opposition-controlled National Assembly, declared himself temporary leader last month in a move that has split global powers.

Mr Trump immediately recognised him and European Union nations back Mr Guaido, though some have been nervous over the global precedent of a self-declaration.

Mr Maduro, 56, former union leader, bus driver and foreign leader, replaced Hugo Chavez as president in 2013 after his death from cancer. But he has presided over an economic collapse and exodus of 3 million Venezuelans.

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