Trump found his 'bad hombres'

pulse

February 16, 2017 6:26 PM

They were (shockingly) not in Mexico.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, right, and Venezuela's Vice President Tareck El Aissami, shake hands during a meeting with governors in Caracas, Venezuela, February 14, 2017.

Donald Trump has found the 'bad hombres' he mentioned while debating Hillary Clinton last year. They just weren't in Mexico.

They're in Venezuela.

The US Treasury has placed sanctions on Venezuela's new Vice President, Tareck El Aissami.

And on Wednesday, Trump tweeted "Venezuela should allow Leopoldo Lopez, a political prisoner & husband of @liliantintori (just met w/ @marcorubio) out of prison immediately."

That was accompanied by a picture of himself meeting with Tintori, who has been carrying on her husband's work, and Senator Rubio.

Lopez, a Harvard-educated former mayor, has been in prison since February of 2014. He was jailed for leading massive protests against President Nicolas Maduro's brutal socialist regime.

Maduro's reign has been a complete and utter humanitarian disaster. Venezuela is broken, suffering from food shortages and rolling blackouts. Stories of the nightmarish situation in hospitals across the country and desperate citizens resorting to vigilante justice to maintain order have been shocking the world for almost two years now.

"We shall not be distracted by these miserable provocations," said Tareck El Aissami, the most senior Venezuelan official yet sanctioned by the United States.

"We will see this vile aggression dispelled," he added in a series of defiant tweets before appearing on state television looking unruffled as he presided over a government meeting...

It remains to be seen what, if anything, this new pressure on Maduro's regime will do for Venezuela and its desperate people.

Or for Lopez.

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