First lady Melania Trump empathized with Venezuelans who are suffering from “the oppression of socialism and communism” and spoke of how much she cherishes the freedom she experiences as a U.S. citizen during remarks on Monday in Miami, Florida.
Melania Trump was born in 1970 in Slovenia, which was then part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Slovenia formally split from Yugoslavia in 1991.
The first lady moved to the U.S. in 1996, became a permanent resident in 2001, and became a U.S. citizen in 2006 — the year after she married President Donald Trump.
The president and the first lady spoke to the Venezuelan American community on Monday at the Florida International University Ocean Bank Convocation Center in Miami. Melania Trump spoke first and introduced her husband.
“The president and I are honored to stand with all of you as we together support the people — great people of Venezuela. I’m proud to be here with you in the United States of America as your first lady,” Melania Trump said. “Many of you in the room know what it feels like to be blessed with freedom after living under the oppression of socialism and communism.”
The U.S. has recognized interim Venezualan President Juan Guaidó as the country’s rightful president — instead of Nicolás Maduro.
Related: U.S. Calls on World to Recognize Venezuela’s New Leader
“In Venezuela, the people are on the brink of reclaiming their own liberty,” Melania Trump said. “Today, we must let the Venezuelan people hear us all with one united voice. There is hope, we are free, and we pray together loudly and proudly that soon the people of Venezuela will be free, as well.”
“My husband is here today because he cares deeply about the current suffering in Venezuela,” the first lady added. “This afternoon he has an important message to share.”
The president said “a new day is coming in Latin America.” He noted that in “Venezuela and across the western hemisphere, socialism is dying, and liberty, prosperity, and democracy are being reborn.”
Ironically enough, the president’s remarks came as 2020 Democratic presidential contenders are increasingly pushing socialist policies that were once fringe policies in the country just a few years ago.
Trump decried the socialist policies touted by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) during a rally in El Paso, Texas, last week.
He said proposals like the Green New Deal and massive tax hike proposals are meant “to pave the way for socialism.”
“Everywhere socialism has been, everywhere it’s been implemented, it’s produced poverty, misery, repression and despair. You take a look — no matter where,” Trump had warned. “Yet there are those trying to implement socialism right here in the United States.”
“So I again say to you — and I say it for the world to hear — America will never be a socialist country. Never,” Trump promised.
On Monday, the president lamented that “the socialists have done in Venezuela all of the same things that socialists, communists, totalitarians have done everywhere that they’ve had a chance to rule.
“We seek a peaceful transition of power, but all options are open.”
“The results have been catastrophic,” Trump said. He also thanked every Venezuelan “dissident, every exile, every political prisoner, and everyone who bears witness to the horrors of socialism and communism, and who has bravely spoken out against them.”
The president urged U.S. allies to continue aiding Venezuela in its quest for freedom amid a staggering humanitarian crisis. He asked Venezuelan military officials to accept Guaidó’s “generous offer of amnesty, to live your life in peace with your families and your countrymen” by rejecting Maduro.
“But you must not follow Maduro’s orders to block humanitarian aid, and you must not threaten any form of violence against peaceful protestors … opposition leaders, members of the National Assembly, or President Guaidó and his family,” Trump said.
“We seek a peaceful transition of power, but all options are open.”
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