Caracas, Venezuela – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has ordered a close review of the country’s relationship with the United States in answer to stinging condemnation from the Trump administration.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Vice President Mike Pence sent a videotaped message to Venezuelans calling Maduro a dictator who maintains power by jailing dissident voices. The video was released Tuesday, a day before the opposition holds nationwide demonstrations calling for the removal of Maduro.
Maduro spoke hours later on state TV, saying Pence hit a 200-year low in relations between the two countries by authorizing a coup.
The U.S. maintains an embassy in Caracas, but the two countries haven’t exchanged ambassadors in nearly a decade.
A once-wealthy oil nation, Venezuela is in a deepening crisis after two decades of socialist rule that has led to shortages of food and medicine.
They were angry with us before. They are angry with us now. This is not new nor is it news.