Republican Senator Marco Rubio stepped up his typically strong rhetoric against the Venezuelan government in a series of inflammatory tweets on Friday.
The Florida senator called for the Venezuela’s Armed Forces to rise up and rebel against the government.
“The world would support the Armed Forces in #Venezuela if they decide to protect the people & restore democracy by removing a dictator,” Rubio said.
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The world would support the Armed Forces in #Venezuela if they decide to protect the people & restore democracy by removing a dictator
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 9, 2018
Soldiers eat out of garbage cans & their families go hungry in #Venezuela while Maduro & friends live like kings & block humanitarian aid
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 9, 2018
The Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has also hinted at support for a coup d’etat
RT reports: Rubio’s tweets come after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Thursday hinted at his support for a coup d’etat in Venezuela, as well as more sanctions including an embargo on Venezuela’s valuable oil exports.
The Trump administration is seeking to ramp-up pressure on President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist regime in the wake of alleged human rights abuses against political dissidents in the country.
“In the history of Venezuela and South American countries, it is often times that the military is the agent of change when things are so bad and the leadership can no longer serve the people,” Tillerson said at the University of Texas in Austin on Thursday.
Responding to Tillerson’s statements, Jorge Arreaza, the Venezuelan foreign minister, wrote: “Our sovereign democracy does not obey imperialist pressures, it obeys a free people.”
La gira de Tillerson, aparte de confirmar lealtades carnales de algunas élites gobernantes hacia D. Trump, no fue más que una demostración de la obsesión y de amenazas contra Venezuela. Nuestra Democracia soberana no obedece a presiones imperialistas, obedece a un pueblo libre
— Jorge Arreaza M (@jaarreaza) February 8, 2018
Venezuela is scheduled to have a presidential election on April 22 after mediation talks between Maduro’s leftist government and an opposition coalition broke down on Wednesday.
In January, Rubio urged President Donald Trump to adopt sanctions against Diosdado Cabello, an important ally of Maduro.