Rep. Ilhan Omar said Wednesday that the United States is to blame for growing chaos in Venezuela under socialist Nicolás Maduro’s regime.
The Minnesota Democrat told Democracy Now that U.S. policies are driving violence in a nation rife with food shortages, power outages and Caracas protests that involve Venezuelan National Guard vehicles running over protesters.
“A lot of the policies that we have put in place has kind of helped lead the devastation in Venezuela. And we’ve sort of set the stage for where we’re arriving today,” she said.
The Democrat’s comments come against a political backdrop in which opposition leader Juan Guaido has called on members of the military to turn on Maduro.
“This particular bullying and the use of sanctions [by the U.S.] to eventually intervene and make regime change really does not help the people of countries like Venezuela, and it certainly does not help and is not in the interest of the United States,” she added.
Ms. Omar buttressed her stance by saying it was shared in principle by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
“She concurred with me that many of the sanctions that we impose [around the world] ultimately lead to devastations — and we are seeing it now in Venezuela —and ultimately lead to having severe problems in that country, which doesn’t stabilize life for the people, and certainly puts us here in the United States at risk.”
BREAKING: Video shows armored military vehicle slamming into pro-Guaidó protesters amid unrest in Caracas. https://t.co/QfbZwt8BjK pic.twitter.com/ezSKYJef5c
— NBC News (@NBCNews) April 30, 2019
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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