Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro is lambasting U.S. Vice President Mike Pence’s remarks at the U.N. Security Council as both “ridiculous” and “racist.” In a televised address early Wednesday evening, Maduro said Pence’s comments show U.S. leaders “think they are superior to Venezuelans.”
He added that on Pence’s face he could see “the hate, the racism” harbored toward Venezuela. Pence urged the United Nations to recognize opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate president and revoke the credentials of Samuel Moncada, who is the U.N. ambassador for Maduro’s government. Pence told Moncada at a Security Council meeting: “With all due respect Mr. Ambassador, you shouldn’t be here.” Maduro frequently engages in a war of words with his U.S. counterparts as tensions between both nations mount amid Venezuela’s power struggle.