Venezuela’s socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro called U.S. Vice President Mike Pence “paranoid” and “a madman” following remarks this week that Honduran authorities had told Washington that Caracas was funding the thousands-strong migrant caravan making its way from Central America to Mexico.
Pence specifically claimed that Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández had told him and other American officials Venezuela was behind the caravan, made up largely of Honduran nationals seeking to apply for asylum in the United States. The caravan is making its way through southern Mexico at press time.
Maduro rejected the accusation during a meeting with “national and international intellectuals” at the Miraflores palace in Caracas, according to government-run television.
“I warn the world about Mike Pence’s paranoia and that of the extremist sectors of the government of the U.S. against Venezuela,” Maduro said at the event. “They are obsessed because they cannot defeat us, and they never will be able to because the Bolivarian Revolution is committed to advancement.”
Maduro described as his regime’s “greatest challenge” that “the world listen to the truth of Venezuela against the avalanche of attacks.” He did not specifically offer any evidence one way or the other on his involvement in the caravan.
Maduro once again condemned the “imperialist paranoia” of the United States in a speech on Wednesday, this time directly addressing the caravan comments.
“What tremendous convening power I have in Central America, Mike Pence!” Maduro joked. “If it wasn’t for an extremist, an extremist madman saying it….one would have to laugh.”
Maduro has taken to attack vice presidents in the past. In 2015, Maduro accused then-Vice President Joe Biden of personally orchestrating an assassination plot against him. “I accuse U.S. Vice President Joe Biden who personally spoke with the presidents and prime ministers about the plan,” Maduro told an enraged crowd of supporters at the time.
One of Maduro’s top allies, the legislator and alleged cocaine trafficker Diosdado Cabello, used time on his program Con el Mazo Dando (“Hitting with the Mallet”) Wednesday to attack Pence, as well. In an episode that featured a Hugo Chávez-themed salsa concert, a rant against Angelina Jolie for her humanitarian work, and accusations of “faggotry” against the anti-socialist opposition, Cabello read aloud headlines claiming the White House is preparing for the fall of the Maduro regime.
“What they don’t know is that Maduro is ready to pitch nine innings, 18 innings, 24 innings,” Cabello asserted, to the cheers of a military audience.
On social media, Cabello referred to Pence personally as a “lackey” of President Donald Trump’s.
“Like a self-fulfilling prophecy, now it so happens that our country is the one financing the Central American ‘caravan’ on the way to the U.S., imperialist cynicism has no limits and its lackeys repeat everything like parrots. They blame us for everything because we don’t surrender,” he wrote on Twitter. “We will defeat [them]!”
Como una profecía autocumplida, resulta ahora q nuestro país es quien financia la "caravana" centroamericana que va rumbo a EE.UU., el cinismo imperial no tiene límites y sus lacayos repiten como loros. Nos culpan de todo porque no nos rendimos. Nosotros Venceremos!!
— Diosdado Cabello R (@dcabellor) October 23, 2018
Vice President Pence triggered the outrage on Tuesday during a discussion about the caravan, which intends to cross into the United States at the southern border. Speaking to Washington Post national political reporter Robert Costa, Pence said that Hernández had claimed the caravan was “financed by Venezuela … [to] challenge our sovereignty, challenge our border.”
The Trump administration, and Pence in particular, have prioritized awareness of the Venezuelan humanitarian crisis and opposition to the socialist regime. In June, Pence and wife Karen visited Venezuelan refugees in northwestern Manaus, Brazil, listening to their stories. Brazil and Colombia have become prime destinations for Venezuelan refugees, triggering the largest migration crisis outside of Syria.
Venezuela is currently suffering through the worst economy in its history and one of the worst current economies on the globe, leaving many wondering what money the regime has left to finance such a mission. Maduro has made several world tours attempting to seek financing to keep his government afloat with relative success. In September, for example, Maduro visited Beijing, securing a deal in which the Communist Party there would lend Venezuela $5 billion. Maduro insisted the money was not a loan, but payment for crude oil.
In July, Maduro traveled to Turkey, another damaged economy, seeking economic ties with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
This week, Maduro welcomed the Qatari ambassador to Venezuela to his offices to allegedly “hone strategies for exchanges to benefit both our peoples.”
He tenido una grata y productiva reunión de trabajo con el excelentísimo señor Rashid Mohsin Al Fetais, Embajador del Estado de Qatar en Venezuela. Estrechamos lazos de hermandad y afinamos estrategias de intercambio para el beneficio de nuestros pueblos. pic.twitter.com/NsxuXQe9nB
— Nicolás Maduro (@NicolasMaduro) October 25, 2018
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