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Trump Says Venezuela Is A Disaster Because Socialism Has Been ‘Faithfully Implemented’

REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton.

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Jonah Bennett Contributor
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President Donald Trump said that the economic and humanitarian disaster in Venezuela is due to the fact that the country has “faithfully implemented” socialism, during his Tuesday address to the United Nations General Assembly.

Trump attacked the regimes of Iran and Venezuela, focusing on Venezuela in particular for human rights violations and attacking the idea that the dire situation Venezuela is facing can be blamed on the poor implementation of socialism.

“The problem in Venezuela is not that socialism has been poorly implemented, but that socialism has been faithfully implemented,” Trump said.

He noted that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro operates a “corrupt regime,” and called for the restoration of democracy in the country.

Trump also mentioned Venezuela in a similar U.N. speech Monday, threatening potential action if Maduro continues down the same path.

“We’re prepared to take further action if the government of Venezuela persists,” Trump said. Trump also stated that he would not rule out “military action” against Maduro’s regime in August, which prompted a denouncement from Venezuela’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez.

The economic situation in Venezuela, spurred in part by poor governance and a global drop in oil prices, is threatening to spiral out of control even more so this year. According to estimates, prices are expected to climb by 700 percent in 2017, which could be problematic, given that 75 percent of the population lost an average of 19 pounds from 2015 to 2016.

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