Protests have rumbled through President Nicolas Maduro's Venezuela for the past month, but in a televised press conference today, Hugo Chavez's successor seemed more concerned with what was going on in Miami and Washington, D.C.
Maduro singled out Senator Marco Rubio and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinene as leaders of a "Miami lobby" who are trying to overthrow him. He claimed that the recent protests were not due to his government's failure, but rather were part of a United States-backed coup.
See also: What the Hell Is Going on in Venezuela? A Guide To Understanding the Chaos in Caracas.
Spurred perhaps by Rubio's recent co-introduction of a bill to support anti-government protestors, and Ros-Lehtenin's introduction of a bill yesterday to place economic sanctions on the country, Maduro hit back.
Full US Senate has unanimously approved a resolution condemning violence by govt of @NicolasMaduro & calling for sanctions. #SOSVenezuela
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 13, 2014Castigating the group as "the right of Miami's Republican lobby," Maduro said that Cuban-Americans Rubio and Ros-Lehtenin are holding America's foreign policy hostage. The "are taking President Obama into an abyss," he said.
"If they succeed and overthrow our government, it would be the worst period of economic instability known in 200 years in Latin America," he continued.
My bill sends clear mssg 2 #Maduro + oppressors in region that we won't watch as they stomp on #humanrights. @WIOD pic.twitter.com/gO960pOWYX
— Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (@RosLehtinen) March 14, 2014This is not the first time that Maduro has had harsh words for Rubio. Just a month ago he called Rubio the "loco de los locos," or the "craziest of the crazies."
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