If Trump wanted to help people, he'd open Mexico border & give US homeless places to live – Maduro

If US President Donald Trump actually cared about humanitarian issues, he would open the border with Mexico and fund programs to fight poverty in America itself, Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro said.

Last weekend, the Venezuelan opposition led by self-proclaimed "interim president" Juan Guaido attempted to force the delivery of US-provided aid cargo into Venezuela. Maduro was harshly criticized by US politicians and media for stopping the truck. When asked by a US journalist whether he is putting his pride ahead of the suffering of his people, the Venezuelan leader said Washington's motives for interfering in Venezuela were anything but humanitarian.

"If [Donald Trump] cared a lot about the people of Latin America he should open the border's doors to the Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans and Colombians that he chases from the border. He should give them workers' permits, working visas and the permanent visa to the millions of now-Americans that come from our Latin American communities," Maduro said.

A central part of the Trump administration's policies is border security, and building a wall along the US border with Mexico. The authorities have been criticized for family separation practices, as well as sending the military to the border amid a "humanitarian crisis."

Trump is no humanitarian, Maduro believes. The US president doesn't care about struggling people in Venezuela or, for that matter, struggling people in the US itself, as evidenced by the wealth inequality and rampant homelessness, he told ABC's Tom Llamas.

"You can go to the streets of Los Angeles or its suburbs and you would see thousands of people, Tom, in Miami, living in the streets, freezing," he said, responding to the claim that journalists have seen people "eating out of the trash in Caracas." He added that the same media which amplifies the US narrative about the suffering of Venezuelans and their urgent need for aid overlook similar problems in the US.

"The United States has 40 million poor people, and why is it not seen on TV? The 40 million people without any type of social security or healthcare. The 40 million people who sleep where they can – if they have a car they sleep in the car," Maduro said. "And why is that type of poverty that is generated by the strongest country in the world not seen?"

Latin American allies of the US, which contribute to its regime-change operation in Venezuela, are often worse off than Venezuela in terms of providing for their people's needs, Maduro stated.

"Venezuela, despite its difficulties, is much, much better than most of the countries that have right-wing governments that critique us. We are much better than Honduras, than Colombia, than Peru, than Ecuador," he said. "The international UN indexes in relation to the social investment, social equality, health, education, housing, employment, security are the highest in Latin America."

He reiterated that the US is attacking Venezuela because it wants to take control of its natural resources and dispose of his socialist government for ideological reasons.

"The Cold War should stay behind. We cannot have this war of 'are you a communist, are you anti-communist, inter-communist, anti-communist?' – that is not of this century," the Venezuelan leader argued. "We are democrats that believe in a new type of socialism and we have the right to the diversity of criterion and ideology."

Last month, the US declared Maduro a usurper and recognized Guaido as the legitimate head of the nation. It has since been trying to bolster his effort to take control over Venezuela by providing diplomatic support, aid, and control over assets belonging to the nation, which Washington was able to seize. The escalation comes after years of imposing increasingly severe sanctions, targeting Maduro and the people of Venezuela.

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