Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., told Newsmax on Tuesday that Venezuela's crisis will not begin to improve until Nicolás Maduro is removed from power — adding that the sooner it happens, the better it will be not only for Venezuelans but for the United States.
"Look what happened a year ago," Gimenez told "Rob Schmitt Tonight." "The Venezuelan people basically threw Maduro out, and he has refused to leave."
Maduro lost a democratic election to opposition leaders María Corina Machado and Edmundo González, whom Gimenez described as the "legitimate government in waiting."
Gimenez traced Venezuela's collapse back 25 years to Hugo Chávez and Maduro, calling their rule a "communist regime" that has destroyed what was once one of Latin America's wealthiest nations. But he argued Maduro's abuses go far beyond political repression.
"Nicolás Maduro is the head of the Cartel de los Soles, which has been named a foreign terrorist organization," Gimenez said. "He has been directly responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of Americans, because Venezuela acts as the major shipper of the drugs that enter into the United States."
Gimenez said the poison pouring across the U.S. border — including fentanyl and other lethal narcotics — has killed "over half a million of us in the last five years," and he places significant blame on Maduro's regime for enabling the trafficking networks fueling the crisis.
Calling Maduro "an interesting case," Gimenez said the United States and its allies must remain clear-eyed about what the Venezuelan leader represents.
"The faster he leaves, the faster it'll be better for everybody — including the United States of America," he said.
Asked whether he believes Maduro will actually fall, Gimenez didn't hesitate.
"If I had to bet — you forced me to? Yeah, I think he's gone," he told Schmitt.
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