Maduro Hails Trump’s Departure: He Left Alone, This Is Our Triumph!

“Today, January 20, Donald Trump left, left, left... We defeated him,” Maduro said in a televised address on Wednesday. “This is a victory for Venezuela. He left alone… This is our triumph.”

His remarks came shortly after Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States after defeating Trump, who had imposed waves of sanctions against Venezuela and Maduro’s administration, causing economic difficulties for the Latin American country.

Trump ardently supported Venezuelan opposition figure Juan Guaido, who unilaterally declared himself “interim president” of the country in January 2019 and later launched an abortive coup against the elected government of Maduro.

Elsewhere in his remarks on Wednesday, the Venezuelan president said the parliament could assess the establishment of new relations with Washington.

“I consider it important that the National Assembly, as the country’s legislative body, the foreign policy commission, study and adopt legislative and political initiatives to start new relations between the United States and Venezuela,” Maduro said.

He also expressed hope that Biden would reverse the decisions Trump made against Caracas and revise the US policy toward the South American country.

“I call on the new US government to stop the demonization of the Bolivarian revolution and Nicolas Maduro as well as to turn over the page of lies, demonization and hatred… toward Venezuela,” Maduro added, stressing that Caracas wanted to improve the current strained ties with the US “to a relationship of respect, reciprocity, and the future.”

Maduro’s remarks, however, come as Biden’s nominee for secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said during his US Senate confirmation hearing that Washington should not change its position regarding recognizing Guaido as the so-called “interim president” of Venezuela.