US needs to stay out of Venezuela, says Tulsi Gabbard

WASHINGTON: The US needs to stay out of Venezuela, Democratic presidential aspirant Tulsi Gabbard has said after the Trump administration backed the overthrow of President Nicolas Maduro and recognised opposition leader Juan Guaido as the Latin American country's interim president.

Gabbard, 37, the first Hindu elected to US Congress and a four-time Democratic lawmaker, recently announced she will run for President in 2020.

"The United States needs to stay out of Venezuela. Let the Venezuelan people determine their future. We don't want other countries to choose our leaders-- so we have to stop trying to choose theirs,” Gabbard said in a tweet Thursday.


A veteran of Iraq war, she has been opposed to American interventionist policy overseas and is against deployment of US troops in other countries.

Describing hard-left President Maduro as "illegitimate", US President Donald Trump said on Thursday the National Assembly, headed by Guaido, is "the only legitimate branch of government duly elected by the Venezuelan people."

Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna too slammed Trump for his new policy on Venezuela.

"The United States should not anoint the leader of the opposition in Venezuela during an internal, divided conflict. There is no doubt the Maduro's economic policies have been terrible, and he has engaged in financial mismanagement and also political authoritarianism," he said.