Trump on Venezuela: ‘The days of socialism are numbered’

President Trump repeatedly slammed socialism during a Monday speech about Venezuela, saying that the political ideology’s days in North and South America are “numbered.” 

“The days of socialism and communism are numbered, not only in Venezuela, but in Nicaragua and Cuba as well,” Trump told a crowd gathered in Miami.

“In Venezuela and across the Western Hemisphere, socialism is dying, and liberty, prosperity and democracy are being reborn.”

{mosads}Trump’s speech was in support of Venezuelan National Assembly leader Juan Guaidó’s attempt to remove current President Nicolás Maduro from power.

The U.S. is one of several countries to recognize Guaidó as the official president in Caracas, and Trump lauded his efforts during the speech, calling for Maduro’s backers in the Venezuelan military to abandon the government.

A major focal point of his argument was that socialism is at the root of the humanitarian crisis in the Latin-American nation.

“Years of socialist rule have brought this once thriving nation to the brink of ruin,” the president said.

“Socialism by its very nature does not respect borders. It does not respect the boundaries or the sovereign rights of its citizens or its neighbors. It’s always seeking to expand, to encroach and subjugate others to its will.”

He expanded his criticism to Cuba and Nicaragua as well, saying the nations had “great potential” if socialism and communism could be removed from them.

Trump has frequently taken the situation with Venezuela as a launching point for criticism of socialism more broadly.

During his State of the Union address earlier this month, Trump condemned “the brutality of the Maduro regime, whose socialist policies have turned that nation from being the wealthiest in South America into a state of abject poverty and despair.”

He added that “here, in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country. America was founded on liberty and independence — not government coercion, domination and control.”