rival Donald Trump in the same category as Hugo Chavez, Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler.
The ad, aimed
at U.S. Hispanic voters ahead of the Nov. 8 election, features comments by
Trump that Clinton should be jailed and his vow to sue media that spread
"purposely negative, horrible and false" articles.
"Remind
you of anyone?" the video asks in Spanish, before flashing images of the
late socialist Venezuelan leader Chavez in military fatigues and a red beret,
ordering the closure of radio and television stations.
The video also
compares Trump and Chavez, who died in 2013, with European dictators Mussolini
and Hitler, and concludes by urging voters to "protect" U.S.
democracy. The ad was paid for by the Democratic National Committee in support
of Clinton, and was not made by her campaign.
"It is an
expression of racist arrogance and irrationality from a party that does not
serve its constituents," Venezuela's Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez said
in a statement late on Wednesday.
"Chavez
is a leader who transcended our time for his democratic nature, his fight for
the poor and universal feeling for humanity."
But to many
Latin Americans and Latino voters in the United States, Chavez has become a
bogeyman.
The South
American nation, whose economy is heavily dependent on oil exports, is
suffering acute food shortages and soaring inflation and many Venezuelans blame
the state-led economic system that Chavez launched.
Trump, a real
estate magnate, is himself at political odds with Chavez's legacy, saying in
July that the United States would "end up being Venezuela" if Clinton
won the White House.
And Chavez's
successor, President Nicolas Maduro, last year branded Trump a
"bandit" and "thief" after the American accused Mexico of
sending criminals to live in the United States.
Trump has antagonized
many Latinos with those remarks and his vows to build a wall along the border
with Mexico and make Mexico pay for it. Most recently, he offended Hispanics
with his attacks on a former Venezuelan beauty queen, whom Clinton said he
called "Miss Housekeeping" because she was a Latina.
In his last
presidential debate with Clinton, on Wednesday night, Trump sparked online
outrage among critics when he repeated his calls for tougher border security,
saying "We have some bad hombres here and we're going to get them
out."
Reuters
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