WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Venezuela is being run by a dictator, U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Monday, without mentioning Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro by name. “I know it very well, and Venezuela is right now being run by a dictator,” Trump said in an interview on the Kick livestreaming platform. Following a July 28 […]
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Trump says Venezuela is being run by a dictator
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Venezuela is being run by a dictator, U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Monday, without mentioning Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro by name.
“I know it very well, and Venezuela is right now being run by a dictator,” Trump said in an interview on the Kick livestreaming platform.
Following a July 28 election, Venezuela’s electoral council declared President Maduro, in power since 2013, the winner with 51% of the vote, drawing accusations of fraud by the opposition.
The opposition says its own detailed tally showed opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez likely received 67% of the vote.
In the interview, Trump went on to say that crime was down drastically in Venezuela because “they’ve taken their criminal elements … and they’ve moved them into the United States” – a remark pointed at the Biden administration’s border-security policies.
“(T)hey’re drug dealers, they’re criminals, They’re murderers, they’re rapists. Everything’s been moved into the United States,” Trump said without citing evidence.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; editing by Rami Ayyub and Howard Goller)