Maduro brands Milei a 'Nazi, Zionist and social sadist'

President Nicolás Maduro branded his Argentine counterpart Javier Milei a "Nazi, Zionist and social sadist" on Friday as he was sworn-in as Venezuela's leader for a third term.

Maduro's inauguration drew widespread admonishment from countries that have accused him of stealing the July election.

But the defiant 62-year-old leader, who has shrugged off allegations of electoral fraud and insisted he won another six-year term, was also congratulated by states that have maintained support for his controversial government.

Argentina's Milei has been one of Maduro's fiercest critics and he was name-checked in the Venezuelan leader's speech.

Maduro also recalled the failed attempts to impose opposition leader Juan Guaidó as interim president over the past years and said: "When they tried to impose him, very thieving, very corrupt, very corrupt, very bandit, very fake, and they thought that by all coming down on Venezuela, the people of Venezuela were going to cower."

Warming to his theme, the authoritarian leader lashed out at "the extreme right, led by a Zionist Nazi, a social sadist called Javier Milei, together with the US empire, believes it can impose a president on Venezuela."

Maduro used his speech to restate his position in the face of international criticism.

"They didn't understand. Today they don't understand. They continue to underestimate the Venezuelan people's capacity for resistance and dignity," he said, attacking "foreign imperialism."

Earlier this month, Milei hosted opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, who claimed victory in the troubled nation’s disputed July election, in Buenos Aires.

Milei reaffirmed his support for Venezuela's opposition during a half-hour meeting between the two at the Casa Rosada.

"We are doing what the cause of freedom requires, no more and no less," Milei told González Urrutia as they shook hands inside government house.

González Urrutia was the united opposition’s candidate in the disputed July 28 elections following the disqualification of popular opposition leader María Corina Machado.

He went into exile in Spain after being accused by Venezuela’s Prosecutor's Office of “conspiracy” and “criminal association.”

González Urrutia’s visit to Argentina coincided with heightened tensions between Caracas and Buenos Aires following the detention in Venezuela of Argentine Gendarmerie (Border Guard) officer Nahuel Gallo, accused of “terrorism.”

Buenos Aires has complained to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and International Criminal Court (ICC).

Relations between Milei and Maduro were already strained but have fully broken down since Argentina refused to recognise Venezuela's election results.