I was briefed this morning on the U.S. military capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, as well as their planned imprisonment in federal custody here in New York City.
Unilaterally attacking a sovereign nation is an act of war and a violation of federal and international law.
This blatant pursuit of regime change doesn’t just affect those abroad, it directly impacts New Yorkers, including tens of thousands of Venezuelans who call this city home. My focus is their safety and the safety of every New Yorker, and my administration will continue to monitor the situation and issue relevant guidance.
This is a good statement tbh. moving passed the “maduro is a dictator” shit and getting to the point that this is insanely illegal is important.
Perhaps an unpopular take, but that one time he called Maduro a dictator was literally on MyCultura, an iHeartRadio podcast network basically for gusanos. Should he have said that shit? No, obviously not.
But also I saying that trash is basically a requirement for getting to speak on the gusano podcast, Laser sights trained on your forehead if you don’t. Unfortunately, that medium is how you reach a lot of Spanish speaking New Yorkers. Anti-communism runs deep and the “freedom of speech” that hogs love to screech about continues to be wholly hypothetical.
He didn’t say it on the podcast, he waffled and pretended to not know enough about Cuba and Venezuela. It was his post pod follow-up where he called them dictators
This is a detail many people seem to have missed, which IMO made the whole incident reflect much worse on Mamdani. It wasn’t a concession extracted under pressure during an interview, it was a considered and prepared statement after the fact.
some advisors probably evaluated that saying that shit would help with gusanos and libs more than it alienated us
Certainly possible, though I’d argue that allowing that kind of calculus for an election that he had already functionally won doesn’t reflect well on him either. It’s possible that he saw some backlash after that and that informed this statement too.
nice to see he’s less daft as actual mayor than he was as a candidate/ the mayor elect.
So far I agree, hopefully this trend doesn’t reverse. If his statement on this had been any less than what it was it would have been beyond unacceptable.
Perhaps an unpopular take, but that one time he called Maduro a dictator was literally on MyCultura, an iHeartRadio podcast network basically for gusanos. Should he have said that shit? No, obviously not.
But also I saying that trash is basically a requirement for getting to speak on the gusano podcast, Laser sights trained on your forehead if you don’t. Unfortunately, that medium is how you reach a lot of Spanish speaking New Yorkers. Anti-communism runs deep and the “freedom of speech” that hogs love to screech about continues to be wholly hypothetical.
He didn’t say it on the podcast, he said it 2 weeks later after the podcast host convinced him Venezuela and Cuba are bad.
“When New York Assembly member Zohran Mamdani finally decided to speak publicly about Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel, he didn’t do it in a press conference or a statement through his office but on a podcast. He was being interviewed by none other than Emmy Award-winning journalist Jorge Ramos and his daughter, political commentator Paola Ramos”
He spoke publicly about them on the podcast (as your quote says), but he didn’t call them dictators on the podcast, as I said.
Quoted below from the linked article, emphasis added by me.
Mamdani, the Democratic mayoral nominee and leading candidate in the race for New York City Hall, has often spoken about housing rights and immigrant justice but stayed cautious when asked about Maduro’s authoritarian rule or Díaz-Canel’s repression in Cuba. During the interview, the duo pressed him on whether he considered them dictators. The initial answer was mild, condemning the repression in both countries but declining to call them “dictators.” However, his campaign sent a much more contundent position days after the interview:
" I want to be clear on where I stand. I believe both Nicolas Maduro and Miguel Diaz-Canel are dictators. Their administrations have stifled free and fair elections, jailed political opponents, and suppressed the free and fair press. And yet, our federal government’s long history of punitive policies toward both countries, including extrajudicial killings of Venezuelans and the continuation of a decades long blockade of Cuba, have only worsened these conditions. Democratic socialism is about dignity, justice and accountability. And above all, it’s about building a democracy that works for working people, not one that preys on them."
I was mistaken about the timeline, it was a few days rather than 2 weeks. The point is that he successfully went on the podcast and spoke to that audience (in my opinion still making distasteful concessions) and then after that he worsened his stance and called them “dictators”.
I wouldn’t be condescending about a podcast I didn’t listen to. He was ambivalent in the interview, dodging the dictator question, and saying he didn’t know enough but that his democratic socialism was different from Maduro’s. Then he followed up afterwards explicitly calling both Maduro and Diaz-Canel dictators. It’s in the article you posted btw
Mamdani, the guy who called Maduro a dictator?
At least his statement today didn’t do the same… unlike Bernie’s statement.
https://xcancel.com/NYCMayor/status/2007513875709669540#m
This is a good statement tbh. moving passed the “maduro is a dictator” shit and getting to the point that this is insanely illegal is important.
Perhaps an unpopular take, but that one time he called Maduro a dictator was literally on MyCultura, an iHeartRadio podcast network basically for gusanos. Should he have said that shit? No, obviously not.
But also I saying that trash is basically a requirement for getting to speak on the gusano podcast, Laser sights trained on your forehead if you don’t. Unfortunately, that medium is how you reach a lot of Spanish speaking New Yorkers. Anti-communism runs deep and the “freedom of speech” that hogs love to screech about continues to be wholly hypothetical.
He didn’t say it on the podcast, he waffled and pretended to not know enough about Cuba and Venezuela. It was his post pod follow-up where he called them dictators
This is a detail many people seem to have missed, which IMO made the whole incident reflect much worse on Mamdani. It wasn’t a concession extracted under pressure during an interview, it was a considered and prepared statement after the fact.
some advisors probably evaluated that saying that shit would help with gusanos and libs more than it alienated us
nice to see he’s less daft as actual mayor than he was as a candidate/ the mayor elect.
Certainly possible, though I’d argue that allowing that kind of calculus for an election that he had already functionally won doesn’t reflect well on him either. It’s possible that he saw some backlash after that and that informed this statement too.
So far I agree, hopefully this trend doesn’t reverse. If his statement on this had been any less than what it was it would have been beyond unacceptable.
reasonable
He didn’t say it on the podcast, he said it 2 weeks later after the podcast host convinced him Venezuela and Cuba are bad.
“When New York Assembly member Zohran Mamdani finally decided to speak publicly about Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel, he didn’t do it in a press conference or a statement through his office but on a podcast. He was being interviewed by none other than Emmy Award-winning journalist Jorge Ramos and his daughter, political commentator Paola Ramos”
-The Latin Times
I think he said it on the podcast, babes
He spoke publicly about them on the podcast (as your quote says), but he didn’t call them dictators on the podcast, as I said.
Quoted below from the linked article, emphasis added by me.
I was mistaken about the timeline, it was a few days rather than 2 weeks. The point is that he successfully went on the podcast and spoke to that audience (in my opinion still making distasteful concessions) and then after that he worsened his stance and called them “dictators”.
I wouldn’t be condescending about a podcast I didn’t listen to. He was ambivalent in the interview, dodging the dictator question, and saying he didn’t know enough but that his democratic socialism was different from Maduro’s. Then he followed up afterwards explicitly calling both Maduro and Diaz-Canel dictators. It’s in the article you posted btw
The very same.