Venezuela VP: Pence, U.S. ‘Dictatorship’ ‘Entered Crazy Hour’ Noting Iran Ties to Maduro

Mike Pence
Associated Press
Ben Kew

The deputy leader of Venezuela’s socialist regime, Delcy Rodríguez, claimed on Thursday that Vice President Mike Pence had “entered crazy hour” against dictator Nicolás Maduro after Pence accused him of providing safe haven to the Iranian-backed Shiite terrorist group Hezbollah.

Posting on Twitter Thursday, Pence reiterated the Trump administration’s aim of removing Maduro from power and instigating a transition to democracy.

“Maduro has brought nothing but misery to the people of Venezuela since he first took office. He is a dictator with no legitimate claim to power, and he MUST go,” Pence wrote on Twitter. “We’re standing strong for a free and democratic Venezuela!”

He also commented on the visit of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Zarif to Caracas, suggesting it was evidence of Hezbollah’s influence in the Western hemisphere.

“Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif’s travel to Venezuela reminds us that Iran’s destabilizing activities extend well beyond the Middle East,” Pence wrote. “Hezbollah remains active in the Western Hemisphere and Iran’s malign influence poses a threat to security and democracy in the region.”

“His efforts to bolster Venezuelan Dictator Maduro will fail,” he continued. “The US will continue to stand strong for a free Venezuela and against the enemies of democracy.”

Pence’s comments caught the attention of the Maduro regime’s “Executive Vice President,” Delcy Rodríguez, who declared that her country “repudiated such unpleasant statements.”

“Venezuela repudiates the ill-tempered statements of Mr. Mike Pence,” she wrote. “Mr. Pence has entered crazy hour and is expressing his hatred against our Country! The only threat to our Region and the World is the bellicose, supremacist dictatorship of your government, which despises humanity.”

“The American political system asphyxiates the political rights of its citizens,” she continued, ignoring a recent U.N. report charging her regime with “grave” human rights violations. “The dictatorship of military-industrial, financial, and media capital pitifully governs America’s destiny. Venezuela will follow its victorious course and the savage words of [Pence] will remain in the mud!”

Rodriguez, a longtime Maduro loyalist, is well known for making bizarre and unfounded claims against the U.S. and other opponents of her regime. In February, she warned Venezuelan refugees against accepting a U.S.-funded humanitarian aid shipment in Colombia, claiming the food was “carcinogenic” and part of a wider plot to kill them.

“Something that should alarm us as a people is that the humanitarian aid comes contaminated and poisoned,” she said at the time. “It is carcinogenic. Several scientific studies have proven that the … United States is looking to poison our people with chemicals. We could call them biological weapons.”

Last year, the 50-year-old socialist also declared that the U.S. dollar was a “zombie” currency that has no actual worth.

Venezuela has the highest inflation rate in the world, with recent forecasts predicting it will reach 10 million percent by the end of the year.

Follow Ben Kew on Facebook, Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart.com

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