Venezuela president says politicians are 'the new Jews that Hitler pursued' | World news | The Guardian

18.5.17

Venezuela president says politicians are 'the new Jews that Hitler pursued' | World news | The Guardian: Maduro also said in comments to a televised cabinet meeting late on Tuesday that planned opposition rallies in Caracas on Wednesday evening were reminiscent of rallies during the rise of Nazism and fascism in pre-second world war Europe.

Venezuelans living abroad, many of whom have fled the country’s economic chaos, 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.”

The German Nazis and their collaborators persecuted and killed six million Jews in the Holocaust during the 1930s and 1940s.

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.