Venezuela News: Maduro Says Possible US Sanctions ‘Stupid’

In a speech on Friday, Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro derided the idea of US sanctions against Venezuelan officials said to be involved in violence against opposition protestors, telling a summit of ecologists and conservationist groups that “it’s hardly worth responding to the stupid things the elite imperialists from the north do” and daring Congress to pass sanctions legislation currently going through both chambers. “They can keep their threats and stupidities ... They say they’re going to sanction us. Bring on the sanctions. The people of Simón Bolívar can’t be stopped by some empire’s sanctions.”

He spoke just days after the release of an April poll finding that almost 60 percent of the Venezuelan public disapproved of Maduro’s job performance, with a similar percentage of respondents saying they believed the president should not serve out the rest of his term. Over 60 percent said they believed Maduro’s government was most to blame for unrest, while the percentage of those who pointed to the opposition were in the single digits. In his Friday speech, Maduro made no reference to the poll but claimed that popular opinion remained overwhelmingly on the side of the government. “90 percent of our people, of our country, rejects the guarimbas [opposition street barricades] and the fascist right wing,” he said.

At least 42 people have died and over 700 have been injured in connection with protests that spread to cities across the country in mid-February and raged through April, with occasional outbreaks lasting up to the present. A sanctions bill got out of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Friday and will soon be considered by the full chamber. Similar legislation in the Senate remains in committee, according to the Associated Press. Both versions would set aside $15 million for democracy promotion in Venezuela and rescind visas and freeze assets of Venezuelan officials said to participate in abuses against opposition demonstrators.