Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Maduro: US 'warmongering' in order to take over Venezuela

Venezuela's embattled President Nicolás Maduro has called Donald Trump's government a "gang of extremists" and blamed the US for his country's crisis.

In an interview with the BBC, Mr Maduro said he would not allow humanitarian aid into Venezuela as it was a way for the US to justify an intervention.

"They are warmongering in order to take over Venezuela," he said.

The US and most Western governments have recognised opposition leader Juan Guaidó as interim president.

Mr Maduro is under growing internal and international pressure to call early presidential elections amid a worsening economic crisis and accusations of widespread corruption and human rights violations.

Meanwhile, Mr Guaidó has called for new anti-government protests later on Tuesday.

Maduro on Trump: 'Extremist group'

Relations between the US and Venezuela were already fraught before President Trump's administration became one of the first to back Mr Guaidó as interim leader.

Venezuela broke off diplomatic relations in response while Mr Trump said the use of military force remained "an option".

In a rare interview, Mr Maduro said he hoped "this extremist group in the White House is defeated by powerful world-wide public opinion".

Speaking in the capital, Caracas, he told the BBC's Orla Guerin: "It's a political war, of the United States empire, of the interests of the extreme right that today is governing, of the Ku Klux Klan, that rules the White House, to take over Venezuela."

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Why Venezuela matters to the US... and vice versa

The US, which accuses Mr Maduro's government of human rights violations and corruption, has led the international pressure on the Venezuelan president to step down.

It has imposed a raft of economic measures on the country, including against the state-owned oil company, PDVSA, aiming to hit Venezuela's main source of revenue.

In recent years the US has frozen Mr Maduro's US assets, restricted Venezuela's access to US markets and blocked dealings with those involved in the country's gold trade.

It has also criticised Mr Maduro's increased use of the courts and security forces to suppress political opposition.

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called the government a "disastrous dictatorship" while National Security Advisor John Bolton said Mr Maduro was holding an "illegitimate claim to power".

When asked, in response to his Ku Klux Klan comment, if he believed Mr Trump was a "white supremacist", Mr Maduro said: "He is, publicly and openly... They hate us, they belittle us, because they only believe in their own interests, and in the interests of the United States."

Maduro on humanitarian aid: 'A charade'

The president has rejected allowing foreign humanitarian aid into the country, a move that is being organised by the opposition. He said Venezuela had "the capacity to satisfy all the needs of its people" and did not have to "beg from anyone".

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Venezuela's President Maduro to BBC: US aid trucks are a charade

But for years Venezuelans have faced severe shortages of basic items such as medicine and food. Last year, the inflation rate saw prices doubling every 19 days on average.

Three million people, or 10% of the population, have left the country since the economy started to worsen in 2014, according to the UN. And Mr Guaidó says more than 300,000 Venezuelans are at "risk of dying".

Mr Maduro, who has blamed US sanctions for Venezuela's economic woes, said the US intended to "create a humanitarian crisis in order to justify a military intervention".

"This is part of that charade. That's why, with all dignity, we tell them we don't want their crumbs, their toxic food, their left-overs."

Maduro on calling elections: 'What's the point?'

Mr Maduro, in power since 2013, was re-elected to a second term last year but the elections were controversial with many opposition candidates barred from running or jailed, and claims of vote-rigging.

Head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, Mr Guaidó declared himself president on 23 January, saying the constitution allowed him to assume power temporarily when the president was deemed illegitimate.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Desperate Venezuelan women are selling their hair at the border

Mr Maduro - who still has the support of Turkey, Russia and China and, crucially, of the Venezuelan army - said he did not see the need for early presidential elections.

"What's the logic, reasoning, to repeat an election?" he asked.

He also said only "about 10" governments supported Mr Guaidó - in fact, more than 30 have announced their support for the opposition leader - and that they were trying to "impose a government that nobody has elected".

"The extremists of the White House have taken it upon themselves to carry out a coup in Venezuela."</s>ES News email The latest headlines in your inbox ES News email The latest headlines in your inbox Enter your email address Continue Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in Register with your social account or click here to log in I would like to receive lunchtime headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts, by email Update newsletter preferences

Embattled Venezuela president Nicolas Maduro has claimed the Trump administration is an "extremist group" that is ruled by the Ku Klux Klan.

In an interview with the BBC, Mr Maduro branded Donald Trump's government a “gang of extremists” as he accused the White House of warmongering.

"They are warmongering in order to take over Venezuela," he said.

Mr Maduro also called for the world to “wake up" to the "aggression” against his country.

In the interview, he said he hoped "this extremist group in the White House is defeated by powerful world-wide public opinion".

Speaking in Caracas, he said: "It's a political war, of the United States empire, of the interests of the extreme right that today is governing, of the Ku Klux Klan, that rules the White House, to take over Venezuela."

Asked if Donald Trump is a white supremacist, Mr Maduro said: “He is, publicly and openly.

“He has encouraged fascist tendencies, the neo-fascists and the neo-Nazis in the United States, in Europe and in Latin America.

“It’s an extremist grouping that hates the world. They hate us and belittle us because they only believe in their own interests and in the interests of the United States.”

He added: “In this battle we are fighting for Venezuela, I am telling you it’s a battle that goes further than our country.

“I call upon the people of the world to wake up, open your eyes to see it is an aggression against a peaceful country.”

Protesters returned to the streets on Tuesday, three weeks after opposition leader Juan Guaido invoked a constitutional provision to assume the presidency.

While most Western counties, including the US, have recognised Mr Guaido as Venezuela's president, Mr Maduro has retained control of state institutions including the military.</s>Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro called Donald Trump’s government a “gang of extremists” and blamed the United States for his country’s crisis in an interview with the BBC.

Maduro told the British news media outlet that he would allow humanitarian aid into Venezuela, as it was a way for the United States to justify an intervention.

“They are warmongering in order to take over Venezuela,” Maduro said.

Most Western governments, including the United States, have recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó as interim president.

The BBC reports that Maduro is facing growing internal and international pressure to call early presidential elections amid a worsening economic crisis and accusations of widespread corruption and human rights violations.

Guaidó, on his part, called for anti-government protests later on Tuesday.

Maduro told the BBC that he hoped “this extremist group in the White House is defeated by powerful world-wide public opinion.”

“It’s a political war, of the United States empire, of the interests of the extreme right that today is governing, of the Ku Klux Klan, that rules the White House, to take over Venezuela.”

The United States has imposed economic sanctions on Venezuela, including against state-owned oil company, PDVSA, looking to hit Venezuela’s main source of revenue as leverage to precipitate new elections in the country.</s>In an exclusive interview with the BBC, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has lashed out at Donald Trump, calling the US president a white supremacist and accusing him of undermining Venezuela for his own ends.

Speaking to BBC’s Orla Guerin, he said the US was waging a "political war" for the extreme right in order to take over his country.</s>CARACAS: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has called for international support to deal with the "threat" of military action by his US counterpart Donald Trump.

Maduro made the request before the ambassadors of Spain, France, Japan, Syria, Vietnam and Guatemala, who presented their credentials to him on Monday at the Presidential Palace here, reports Efe news.

The Venezuelan leader asked the assembled envoys to relay to their governments his request for a presidential summit "behind closed doors to attend to the issue of peace in Venezuela and now to attend to the issue of the threat of military invasion by the government of Donald Trump against Venezuela".

He called Trump's threat the "most serious threat (Venezuela) has received" in its 200 years as a republic.

Maduro said that "the threat of war, the threat of violence can only be dissipated with dialogue, diplomacy, politics, union".

Last week, the White House said that Trump had refused to speak with Maduro by telephone.

The decision came shortly after Trump told reporters that "a military option" to the Venezuelan political and economic crisis was still possible, although the Pentagon confirmed that it had "not received any orders with regards to Venezuela".</s>Speaking to the BBC, Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro accuses Donald Trump of undermining the country to his own ends.

This video has been optimised for mobile viewing on the BBC News app. The BBC News app is available from the Apple App Store for iPhone and Google Play Store for Android.</s>WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump hosts his Colombian counterpart Ivan Duque at the White House on Wednesday to discuss their campaign to pressure Venezuela's far left president, Nicolas Maduro, from power.

The Trump-Duque talks in the Oval Office, followed by lunch, will give the allies a chance to compare notes just as the standoff between Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido heats up over the arrival of mostly US aid shipments.

Washington has thrown its full weight behind Guaido, recognising him as interim president, demanding that Maduro step aside, imposing sanctions, and even threatening the "option" of military intervention.

Colombia plays a crucial role because it has taken in the lion's share of the more than two million Venezuelans fleeing chaos, poverty and political violence under Maduro.

Now, Colombia is the staging post for US and other foreign humanitarian aid that Maduro is refusing to allow in, saying it would be a precursor to US military action.

At a huge opposition rally on Tuesday, Guaido vowed "it's sure that the humanitarian aid will enter" on February 23. "We have almost 300,000 Venezuelans who will die if the aid doesn't enter."

Trump's hawkish national security advisor John Bolton on Wednesday tweeted that "Maduro would rather stand for tyranny than ... accept aid for the Venezuelan people."

Guaido has been recognized as interim president by 50 countries.

But Maduro, whose government has the financial and political backing of China and Russia, has so far resisted the intensifying US pressure, portraying himself in the mold of historic Latin American anti-imperialist leaders.

Moscow weighed in on Tuesday, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warning "against all interference in Venezuela's domestic affairs, including the use of force threatened by Washington."

Venezuela has the world's biggest oil reserves but its once-thriving economy has fallen into ruin under the long-running leftist government.

Venezuelans face shortages of even basic necessities such as food and medicine and some 2.3 million people have fled since 2015, their salaries and savings rendered worthless by hyperinflation.

Maduro, who gets crucial backing from the country's powerful armed forces, denies there is a humanitarian emergency and has branded the crisis a "political show" and pretext for a US-led invasion.

Now, the focus of the struggle between Maduro and Guaido has turned to the aid shipments. Tons of aid are piling up in Colombian collection centres at the border.

On Tuesday, Guaido insisted that the border be opened.

"Here is a direct order to the armed forces: allow in the humanitarian aid once and for all (and) end the repression," he said.

Guaido's team has also met with Brazilian officials to set up a second aid storage centre. The new right-wing government of President Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, which took over in January after more than a decade of leftist rule there, has joined the coalition against Maduro.</s>President Donald Trump warned Venezuela on Wednesday that "all options" are on the table and demanded that far left leader Nicolas Maduro unblock US aid shipments to the country.

Again stressing that he had not ruled out military options, Trump said he was "sad" about the "turmoil" in the oil-rich Latin American nation.

"You'll see," he told reporters at a White House meeting with his Colombian counterpart Ivan Duque, when asked if thousands of US troops could deploy.

Duque, whose country has taken in large numbers of Venezuelan refugees, also lambasted Maduro, saying that "obstructing the access of humanitarian aid is a crime against humanity."

The US aid, sitting on the Colombian side of the border with Venezuela, has become the latest flashpoint in the US-led push to topple Maduro, whose socialist government is bolstered by the military and backed by Russia and China.

Maduro accuses the United States of using the blocked aid shipments as pretext for an invasion.

However, much of Venezuela's population is in desperate need, lacking even basics like food and medicine.

"I think he's making a terrible mistake by not allowing that to happen," Trump said of Maduro's refusal to allow in the aid.

"We're trying to get food to people that are starving. You have people starving in Venezuela."

Washington has thrown its full weight behind opposition leader Juan Guaido, recognizing him as interim president, demanding that Maduro step aside and imposing sanctions.

Around 50 countries have now recognized Guaido as interim president.

At a huge opposition rally on Tuesday, Guaido vowed that humanitarian aid would enter the country on February 23.

"We have almost 300,000 Venezuelans who will die if the aid doesn't enter," he added.

In his latest attempt to erode Maduro's authority over the military, Guaido said: "Here is a direct order to the armed forces: allow in the humanitarian aid once and for all (and) end the repression."

Guaido's team has also met with Brazilian officials to set up a second aid storage center on that border. The new right-wing government of President Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, which took over in January after more than a decade of leftist rule there, has joined the growing coalition against Maduro.

But Maduro has so far resisted, portraying himself in the mold of historic Latin American anti-imperialist leaders.

Moscow weighed in on Tuesday, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warning "against all interference in Venezuela's domestic affairs, including the use of force threatened by Washington."

There have been growing rumors about possible US preparations for some kind of military involvement ever since Trump's hawkish national security advisor John Bolton was photographed with a notepad reading "5,000 troops to Colombia?"

However, the White House has been coy about the possibility and on Wednesday, the State Department point man for Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, played down the idea.

Military intervention "is not a path that the US government is pursuing," he said. "I don't see a reason" for the use of force.

Venezuela has the world's biggest oil reserves but its once-thriving economy has fallen into ruin under the long-running leftist government. Some 2.3 million people have fled since 2015, their salaries and savings rendered worthless by hyperinflation.</s>The Washington Post reported Wednesday that President (and avid golfer) Donald Trump recently installed a golf simulator at the White House, replacing an older simulator that had been used by President Obama.

But the golf simulator is hardly the only sports fixture on White House grounds.

Since 1902, when Theodore Roosevelt's tennis court was built behind the West Wing, sports infrastructure at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has continued to grow, allowing 20 U.S. presidents to keep up their favorite athletic pursuits without having to venture outside the grounds.

Here's a brief history of sports facilities at the White House, according to information from the White House Historical Association, news reports, the Library of Congress and various presidential libraries.

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The longest-standing sports fixture at the White House has moved a few times over the past century, and it's now hidden by trees in a southern area of the grounds. Roosevelt was a big-time tennis player, as were more recent presidents like the late George H.W. Bush, who considered himself to be "a pretty good tennis player."

The White House tennis court also played a role in a presidential tragedy in the 1920s, when Calvin Coolidge's son got a blister on his toe while playing tennis with his brother, John, and died of a subsequent blood infection. He was just 16 at the time of his death.

George H.W. Bush had a half-court built on the White House grounds in 1991 and invited the most recent NCAA men's and women's champions (Duke and Tennessee, respectively) to help christen it with a pickup game. The court measures 26 feet by 26 feet, according to United Press International, and was paid for with government funds.

More recently, President Obama adapted the White House's tennis court area to allow for a full-size court. According to GQ, he would regularly play pickup games with staffers, or challenge guests to friendly games of H-O-R-S-E or P-I-G.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who used swimming as a means of therapy while dealing with polio, orchestrated the construction a heated indoor pool at the White House in 1933.

A little more than three decades later, under President Richard Nixon, a press briefing room was constructed directly above it. That space — now known as the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room — is still used today, while the pool sits dormant below.

The White House also has an outdoor pool, built in 1975 during the Gerald Ford administration.

"I swim every day. I swam last night at 10:30. Come out and join me sometime," Ford jokingly told reporters in 1976.

According to The New York Daily News, a quarter-mile jogging track was built at the White House during President Bill Clinton's first term — but he rarely used it. White House spokesperson Arthur Jones once said Clinton would sometimes start his runs on the track before taking off to chart his own trail, with Secret Service agents close behind.

President Harry Truman first oversaw the installation of White House bowling lanes in 1947, but the lanes were later relocated to what is now the Old Executive Office Building. A new one-lane bowling alley was built in 1969, with Nixon, an avid bowler, in the White House.

Obama mused about removing the bowling alley, but eventually conceded that it had helped him "greatly improve" his game.

"We do have a bowling alley here at the White House and I've gotten a lot better," Obama told TNT's Marv Albert in 2010.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower — who played hundreds of rounds of golf while in office — had a small putting green installed on the White House grounds in 1954.

"I remember that he would be sitting at his desk when the last visitor went out the door. He would slowly put on his golf cleats and his cap, take off his coat and wander into the backyard to putt," Eisenhower's nephew, David, told the U.S. Golf Association in 2013.

According to the WHHA, a new putting area was built in 1996 — proving that, even though the technology has changed, golf's presence at the White House is hardly new.

Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.</s>President Donald Trump and his Colombian counterpart -- the two Western Hemisphere leaders with the most at stake in ousting Nicolás Maduro -- huddled Wednesday at the White House to search for a way to get millions of dollars worth of humanitarian aid into Venezuela.





According to a senior administration official and people familiar with the discussions, Trump and Iván Duque talked about how to enlist regional leaders to break the military blockade stopping the aid and turn Maduro’s loyal generals against him.

They also discussed how the United States can continue supporting Colombia, which is Washington’s most important ally in the fight and faces the brunt of the humanitarian crisis that is spilling out of Venezuela.

“Duque is the key player in all of this obviously because of the border,” a senior administration official said, who was not authorized to speak publicly about administration policy. “You’re looking at a country who had to endure more than a million Venezuelans inside their borders. For them it’s a national security issue, just like it is for us.”

The two men are working closely together with their teams on how to support the 35-year-old Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed acting president, Juan Guaidó, who has promised that tens of millions of dollars worth of food and medicine will be delivered to the people starting Feb. 23 without any real explanation of how.

Trump and Duque touched on some of those challenges during public comments where the two, sitting by a fireplace, lamented the state of affairs in Venezuela.

“Really, we’re trying to get food to people,” Trump said. “You have people starving in Venezuela. It just shows what can happen with the wrong government.”

They met previously in September at the United Nations General Assembly and appear to be comfortable together. Duque was certainly comfortable enough to twice interject himself into questions to Trump about U.S. priorities on Venezuela and to give the Colombian government’s perspective and support for the opposition.

It was only when drugs came up that the discussion seemed to get tense; Trump turned to look directly at Duque after saying that Colombia needed to do more to eradicate drug production.

“I wouldn’t say that at this moment you’re ahead of schedule, but hopefully you will be at some time in the near future,” Trump said, triggering Duque to interrupt a third time and defend his government’s efforts to meet goals to eradicate drugs.

But it was the crisis in Venezuela that was the central issue that brought the two leaders together.

The Maduro government has blocked a bridge connecting the once oil-rich nation to Colombia as humanitarian aid, requested by Guaidó, has collected along the border.

The Trump administration is wrestling now with how to get the aid to the United States without using force, possibly by sea or air. They’re also studying the feasibility of having Venezuelans fill up backpacks and bags to carry some of the aid into the country to be distributed.

The administration has offered amnesty from U.S. sanctions to top ranking military officials and urged rank and file members to disobey Maduro and allow the aid to enter the country.

While Trump and Duque met at the Oval Office, the administration’s new special envoy for Venezuela, Elliot Abrams, told members of Congress that they’ve been unsuccessful in their efforts to turn leaders of the military against Maduro, but that they’re seeing positive signs.

“We’re hearing a lot of discontent in the military,” Abrams said at a House Foreign Affairs hearing Wednesday. “For one thing, if you’re a general looking down at the ranks, you know that your own people in the army are starving. And what about their brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers. So we think this opinion is spreading in the military that the current situation is untenable.”

While Trump would not exempt the possible use of military force, his senior staff have said that U.S. troops will not be used to force the aid into the country. The Colombian government has also opposed the use of military force to deliver the aid.

Trump would not discuss whether the United States is sending troops to Colombia after his national security advisor appeared to disclose confidential notes to send 5,000 service members to South America amid escalating tensions with Venezuela.

Benjamin Gedan, who was responsible for Venezuela policy on the National Security Council during the Obama administration, said getting aid into Venezuelan is urgent.

“As long as the White House is not pursuing humanitarian assistance merely to provoke a military confrontation, it’s a humane policy, and it has the added benefit of exposing Nicolás Maduro’s cruelty.”

This is Duque’s first official visit to Washington as president. In July of last year, one month before taking office, he visited DC and met with Vice President Pence. (Trump twice cancelled visits to Bogota last year, but said Wednesday that he would visit Colombia and he looked forward to it.)

The Colombian president is crucial part of the U.S. strategy. Duque’s busy schedule during an at least four-day visit to Washington and New York reflects that.

In addition to meeting with Trump and leaders across the administration, Duque will meet with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the House Foreign Affairs Committee. On Thursday, he’ll visit the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, where he worked before becoming president of Colombia. On Friday, he will address the international community at the Organization of American States and later ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

“The days for this dictatorship are about to end,” Duque said, “and we have to continue working on that.”
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, in an interview with the BBC's Orla Guerin, accuses U.S. President Donald Trump of being openly a white supremacist who is "warmongering against Venezuela", saying that "the Ku Klux Klan is running the White House".