It is not just among American voters and Republicans who are losing confidence on U.S. President Donald Trump. Even foreign leaders, such as Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who gave him the benefit of the doubt when he unexpectedly won the presidential election in November 2016, are now telling off the 45th U.S. president.
Maduro is the second national leader to keep a distance from Trump. The first was Russian President Vladimir Putin who used to be the billionaire’s BFF during the presidential campaign. However, when Trump ordered the airstrike in Syria in April after the sarin gas attack by the Syrian government on civilians, their friendship was affected.
Venezuela had enough of American meddling
Reuters reported that Maduro said on Friday that Caracas had enough of Washington’s meddling. The Venezuelan strongman said in a speech on live TV that Trump should go home and get out of the South American nation. “Get your dirty hands out of here,” Maduro said.
Maduro’s angry tirade came after the Trump administration ordered sanctions on Thursday on Venezuela’s chief judge and seven other members of the country’s Supreme Court. The sanctions were to punish the court for its annulment of the Venezuelan Congress, which is led by the opposition, in several court decisions in 2017.
The fresh round of sanctions aims to pressure Maduro and his followers who ordered a crackdown on street protests and efforts to consolidate his rule in the country.
Trump said on Thursday that because Venezuela is “unbelievably poorly run,” the oil-producing nation is now deep in poverty. He added that Venezuela’s humanitarian situation is a disgrace to humanity.
The sanctions include frozen U.S. assets, ban on travel to the U.S., and prohibition on doing business with American citizens.
Among those covered by the sanctions is Maikel Moreno, an ally of the Venezuelan president.
Give Trump a chance
Ironically, when Trump unexpectedly won the November presidential election in the U.S., many world leaders doubted on the former “The Apprentice” host’s ability to lead the nation because of his lack of political experience.
But Maduro then urged the world to give Trump a chance to prove himself. However, several months after that statement, the Venezuelan president did an about-face and now considers Trump an enemy.
Maduro believes Trump is funding the opposition in Venezuela despite the U.S. having its own share of internal problems such as human rights violations and an income gap.
