Venezuela’s socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a “clown” and “harmful” to his people during the latest episode of his weekly Monday television show Con Maduro+ (“With Maduro Plus.”)
Maduro, a close ally of Moscow, claimed that he supports Pope Francis’s recent call to negotiate an end to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. During an interview with Switzerland’s Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS), Pope Francis said that Ukraine should have the “courage to negotiate” an end to Russia’s invasion of its territory. The comments, and Ukraine’s reaction to them, prompted the Vatican Press Office to clarify that the pope’s statements did mean he supported Ukraine’s surrender.
The socialist dictator asserted that “the time has come to negotiate peace” in Ukraine, comparing Zelensky, whom he further described as “crude” and “defeated,” to Venezuela’s former legitimate interim president, Juan Guaidó. Guaidó was president from January 2019 to December 2022 after Maduro clung to power by holding a sham presidential election in 2018 that paved the way for a constitutional crisis in the South American nation.
“Zelensky, the eastern president from over there in Ukraine, more and more resembles Guaidó to me, as clownish, as crude and as defeated as Guaidó, as harmful to his people as Guaidó,” Maduro said.
“In any case, I could say with my heart as a Christian, as a man of faith, that Pope Francis is right,” he continued. “And from Venezuela, we firmly support with devotion the words of Pope Francis’ call for peace in Ukraine.”
The socialist dictator then claimed that all wars, including what he called the “extermination of the Palestinian people” by Israel, must end.
Maduro further alleged that “U.S. Imperialism” is preparing to “discard” Zelensky, claiming that it would not be the first time “that imperialism sets up a puppet, uses it, burns it, destroys it and discards it.”
“We had a clown like Zelensky: Guaidó, the biggest clown, who said he was president in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022. And in 2023, imperialism grabbed him, discarded him and threw him to the garbage dump in Miami,” Maduro said. “Now he lives like garbage in Miami — yes, a multimillionaire.”
Maduro continued his anti-U.S. tirade by asserting that “the empire is like the devil: you serve it and then it spits on you, then it kicks you.”
“It seems to be Zelensky’s fate. Once he has already failed, they discard him, they kick him, they despise him, they abandon him,” Maduro said. “It is the fate of those who sell their soul to the devil.”
The government of Ukraine has not responded to Maduro’s statements at press time.
Maduro issued his accusations against Zelensky days after a report, published by British newspaper the Sunday Times, stated that former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had secretly traveled to Caracas in February to meet with Maduro.
During his less than 24-hour alleged stay in Venezuela, Johnson reportedly discussed the subject of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with the socialist dictator. The two also allegedly discussed a possible normalization of relations between the rogue socialist country and the United Kingdom, which has not officially recognized Maduro’s rule since 2018.
The regimes of Caracas and Moscow maintain close ideological and strategic ties, initially established during the rule of late socialist dictator Hugo Chávez almost 20 years ago. In February, during a broader Latin American tour, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Caracas to meet with Maduro and other members of his socialist regime. During his encounter with Maduro and other officials, Lavrov announced that Russia would increase its cooperation on “peaceful nuclear energy” with the Venezuelan regime.
Lavrov identified Venezuela as one of Russia’s “most reliable and closest friends,” thanking the socialist regime for its aid in the development of relations between Russia and other Latin American countries.