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The Trump administration’s ambassador to the United Nations, defending the U.S.’s abduction of Venezuela’s president on Saturday, told the Security Council that the U.S.’s ultimate goal is to eliminate any “adversaries” and “rivals” in the entirety of the western hemisphere.

In remarks to the UN Security Council during an emergency meeting on the U.S.’s attack on Monday, ambassador Mike Waltz asserted that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is responsible for “destabilizing the western hemisphere,” which encompasses North and South America, as well as some western parts of Europe and Africa.

Similarly to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Waltz asserted, without evidence or explanation, that Venezuela is helping to support groups like Hezbollah, and “coordinating with corrupt Iranian officials,” all in an effort to “malignly influence the United States.”

“As Secretary Rubio stated yesterday: ‘This is the western hemisphere, this is where we live. And we are not going to allow the western hemisphere to be used as a base of operation for our........

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