CARACAS: US President Donald Trump threatened Venezuela with swift “economic actions” on Monday if its leader, Nicolas Maduro, pushes on with an unpopular bid to change his country’s constitution in the teeth of mounting condemnation. The warning came as the opposition coalition in Venezuela called a nationwide strike for Thursday to kick off a “final offensive” aimed at forcing Maduro from office through early elections. Maduro, Trump said in a statement, was “a bad leader who dreams of becoming a dictator.”“The United States will not stand by as Venezuela crumbles,” he said. But the warning dramatically raised the stakes and scope of the long political and economic crisis that has been battering Venezuela. Maduro says that path is the only way to secure “peace” and economic recovery in Venezuela.

Source: Manila Times July 18, 2017 02:15 UTC