Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro proposes to meet 'imperialist' Trump

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro proposed a meeting with President Trump at the United Nations on Wednesday, despite deriding the U.S. leader as an “imperialist” oppressor.

“I am willing to reach out my hand to the president of the United States and discuss these matters bilaterally, these matters involving our region,” Maduro told the General Assembly during an evening address. “Venezuela is a very friendly country and we have not forgotten the United States. Rather, we appreciate the culture, the art of the United States, and the social life of the United States. We are against the imperialists in charge of power in Washington.”

Trump denounced Maduro during his own address, telling the assembled world leaders Wednesday that “Maduro has inflicted terrible pain and suffering” on Venezuela in recent years, where a food shortage contributed to a political crisis. Trump has imposed an array of sanctions on Venezuela in response and offered an extended attack on the ideology of the Maduro regime.

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