Venezuela's Maduro: US gov't is 'a gang of extremists'

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON (AA) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused the U.S. government under President Donald Trump for the crisis in his country, describing the U.S. administration “a gang of extremist.”

"They are warmongering in order to take over Venezuela," Maduro said in a special interview with BBC.

Maduro said he hoped "this extremist group in the White House is defeated by powerful world-wide public opinion," during the interview held in Venezuela’s capital Caracas.

"It's a political war, of the United States empire, of the interests of the extreme right that today is governing, of the Ku Klux Klan, that rules the White House, to take over Venezuela," he said.

Maduro said, upon a question that whether he believed Trump was a white supremacist, that “he is, publicly and openly.”

“They hate us, they belittle us, because they only believe in their own interests, and in the interests of the United States," he added.

The Venezuelan president also rejected allowing foreign humanitarian aid into the country, saying that his country had "the capacity to satisfy all the needs of its people" and did not have to "beg from anyone".

He said the U.S. intended to "create a humanitarian crisis in order to justify a military intervention".

"This is part of that charade. That's why, with all dignity, we tell them we don't want their crumbs, their toxic food, their left-overs."

"What's the logic, reasoning, to repeat an election?" Maduro asked.

He told the BBC that "about 10" governments supported Juan Guaido and that they were trying to "impose a government that nobody has elected".

"The extremists of the White House have taken it upon themselves to carry out a coup in Venezuela."

Venezuela has been rocked by protests since Jan. 10 when President Nicolas Maduro was sworn in for a second term following a vote boycotted by the opposition.

Tensions rose when opposition leader Guaido declared himself acting president on Jan. 23, a move which was supported by the U.S. and many European and Latin American countries.

Russia, Turkey, China, Iran, Bolivia and Mexico have put their weight behind Maduro.