Venezuela's embattled President Nicolás Maduro on Tuesday compared the harassment of traveling government officials by Venezuelans living aborad to the treatment of Jews by the Nazis.
In a speech to a Cabinet meeting, Maduro said opposition rallies in Caracas scheduled for Wednesday evening were reminiscent of rallies during the rise of Nazism and fascism in Europe prior to World War II.
Venezuelans living abroad, many of whom have escaped the growing economic and political crisis in the South American nation, have in recent weeks accosted visiting state officials and their family members.
"We are the new Jews of the 21st century that Hitler pursued," Maduro said during the cabinet meeting. "We don't carry the yellow Star of David [...], we carry red hearts that are filled with desire to fight for human dignity. And we are going to defeat them, these 21st century Nazis."
Government opponents, accusing Maduro of becoming a dictator by postponing elections and seeking to rewrite the constitution, have staged demonstrations nearly every day since early April. More than 40 people have been killed in sometimes violent protests.
Social media has for weeks buzzed with videos of Venezuelan emigrees in countries ranging from Australia to the United States shouting insults at public officials and in some cases family members.
Maduro's critics have called it outrageous that government officials are sent on foreign travel whilst at the same time people are struggling to obtain food and children are dying for lack of basic medicines.
