Argentine President Javier Milei reignited his ongoing feud with his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolás Maduro, with new public criticism as the Caribbean country continues immersed in turmoil after its electoral fallout.
Speaking at an international forum on Thursday in buenos Aires, Milei said Maduro's escalating crackdown on dissent has turned the country into a "human cemetery" and mocked his recent announcement about bringing Christmas forward.
"Let's look at the criminal murderous dictatorship of Maduro in Venezuela, which at this point is a human cemetery and where they bring forward Christmas to October to cover up the most blatant fraud in history, and where they are now imprisoning the one who won the elections," Milei said at the Madrid forum, which is taking place in Buenos Aires.
He was making reference to opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, recognized as the winner of the elections by several countries (Argentina among them), who is being sought after by the regime after a government-friendly court issued an arrest warrant for.
#ÚLTIMAHORA Javier Milei acusa al "criminal Maduro" de convertir a Venezuela en "un cementerio humano" https://t.co/CHjDvMhLwV pic.twitter.com/eTneR7Elfv
— Monitoreamos (@monitoreamos) September 5, 2024
Attorney General Tarek William Saab shared the warrant on Instagram, showing Urrutia accused of "serious crimes." González Urrutia and another top opposition leader, María Corina Machado, have been in hiding following the elections due to fear of being arrested. Maduro has called for the arrest of both.
In another passage of his speech, Milei said the fallout is taking place "while the free world stands with its arms crossed." "We have to understand, once and for all, that for evil to triumph it is enough for the just to do nothing," he added.
Standing on diametrically opposed ends of the ideological spectrum, Milei and Maduro have frequently traded barbs, with tensions rising in the context of the presidential elections. Speaking at a rally before heading to the polls, Maduro called Milei a "Nazi and a fascist" and used him as an example of the unwanted direction the country could go on should he lose the elections.
"He got angry when I said so but it is the truth. That Milei is a Nazi and a fascist, he is putting workers through a chainsaw (a euphemism used by Milei to refer to steep austerity measures). He got angry when I said it but the truth is the truth," Maduro added.
He went on to ask attendees if they wanted "Venezuela to go in the same direction as Argentina" and for the country to become "the social disaster Argentina is under Milei."
It is far from the first time Maduro takes on Milei, perhaps his main regional foe at the moment. He had also uttered similar terms last week during an another rally, prompting the spokesman of Argentina's government, Manuel Adorni, to answer during a daily press conference.
"Maduro has become (or always been) a dictator. And the words of a dictator don't merit an analysis because they come from a person whose ethical and moral values are off. He is against what we stand and advocate for, which is democracy."
Argentina officially recognized González Urrutia as the winner of the elections in August, saying the "majority of the Venezuelan people expressed themselves in favor of him and the popular will must be respected."
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