Political Quotes

“earlier this year, I had the opportunity to visit Venezuela, a once proud Latin American democracy that is now in a state of collapse. The country was planning a Presidential election a few weeks after my visit in late May. My message to President Maduro and members of his government during this visit was clear and simple. They should run a clean election in which opposition candidates are released from detention and allowed to participate. Local and international observers should be allowed to observe the entire electoral process. The election should be administered in a fair and open manner by credible nonpartisan election commissioners. These were the same messages told to Venezuela by its neighbors in Latin America. I suggested that meeting these obvious international norms and restoring the power of the country's duly elected National Assembly would help ease Venezuela's isolation and the suffering of its people. Tragically, obstinately, President Maduro and his circle of corrupt colleagues chose to double down. They held a sham election. Its legitimacy was rejected by the international community and the consequences have been predictable: continued mass exodus of desperate Venezuelans to neighboring countries, inflation nearing 1 million percent, deepening international isolation, and of course, an increasingly ruthless crackdown on political opponents to further solidify the regime's illegitimate hold on power.…”