Sen. Marco Rubio In Twitter War With High-Ranking Venezuelan Official
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The crisis in Venezuela has led to a Twitter war between Sen. Marco Rubio and a high-ranking Venezuelan official.
Rubio is no fan of Nicolas Maduro and his government.
He recorded a message to the Venezuelan people, which aired on the country's independent TV stations.
"If the Maduro regime is so confident in the support of its people, then why not schedule the free and fair election called for in your constitution?" he said in the video.
Rubio also told the Miami Herald that Maduro should sleep with one eye open.
But he saves his most blistering attacks for the country's former vice president and current socialist party deputy, Diosdado Cabello.
Rubio calls Cabello Venezuela's Pablo Escobar, the notorious drug trafficker.
The U.S. government believes that Venezuela is now a major narcotics hub, and that Cabello is behind that trafficking.
Cabello tweeted right back, suggesting that Rubio might behind the unrest in his country, since he was the first foreign official to comment on it.
Then he referred to the Miami native as "Narco Rubio."
An hour and a half later, Rubio responded that Cabello was unusually nervous and frantic Wednesday morning.
Rubio has been the loudest voice among American politicians critical of Venezuela's leaders.
There are more than 100,000 Venezuelans living in Florida, the vast majority of them in South Florida.
Rubio has emerged as the face of U.S. opposition to Maduro and has successfully steered the president into taking a tough stand on Venezuela.
Rubio is essentially determining us policy toward Venezuela and Maduro and Cabello know it.
