...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south...
n President Nicolás Maduro
...Commie el presidente para la vida of Venezuela, successor to Hugo Chavez. Nick is his country's attempt at producing a Muammar Qadaffy, except that even though his country's sitting on an enormous puddle of oil, he can't manage to get it out of the ground. Unlike Qadaffy and Hugo Chavez, he's not dead yet...
's claim of victory in the July election and urged him to resign and allow a power transition, while threatening further sanctions if he fails to do so.
Francisco Palmieri, who leads the Venezuelan Affairs Unit at the US embassy in Colombia — as Washington has no diplomatic presence in Caracas — made the remarks on Wednesday in an interview with Venezuela's El Nacional newspaper.
Palmieri argued that Maduro, who has led Venezuela since 2013, should recognise his rival Edmundo Gonzalez as the actual winner of the election before January 10, when the presidential inauguration ceremony is due to take place.
According to Venezuelan electoral authorities, Maduro defeated Gonzales in the July 28 presidential ballot. However,
you can observe a lot just by watching...
the opposition — along with most Western countries — have claimed the vote was rigged.
''Is it the deadline for Maduro. If he stays, things will only get worse for Venezuela,'' Palmieri told the paper.
''If he does not respect the will of Venezuelans, there will only be further deepening of the economic crisis, less international legitimacy, and the Venezuelan people will be increasingly frustrated in the face of a situation where the country will not be able to improve,'' the US diplomat added.