“The people of Venezuela are enduring a serious humanitarian crisis,” Sen. Bernie Sanders tweeted. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo 2020 Elections Sanders, Harris weigh in on Venezuela, call for restraint from Maduro

Two leading Democratic presidential candidates weighed in Saturday on the escalating unrest in Venezuela. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris called on President Nicolás Maduro to refrain from violence against his own citizens.

Sanders said Venezuela was experiencing “a serious humanitarian crisis,” taking a tougher line against Maduro after previously drawing criticism from Florida Democrats for declining to call the South American strongman a dictator.


. “The Maduro government must put the needs of its people first, allow humanitarian aid into the country, and refrain from violence against protesters,” Sanders (I-Vt.) tweeted.

“The U.S. must immediately condemn Maduro’s violence against his own people. There is no excuse for this,” Harris tweeted . “The Venezuelan military and security forces must demonstrate restraint. Venezuelans deserve a free and fair election and a peaceful transition of power.”

The California senator also tweeted : “What’s happening in Venezuela is a crisis. The people who have fled Maduro’s dictatorial regime deserve safety and protection."

Speaking at a campaign event in Iowa on Saturday, Harris said she does not "condone military action at this point" by U.S. forces in Venezuela but warned that Maduro's efforts to maintain power needed to be taken "very seriously," according to The Associated Press.

Venezuela has been plunged into a political meltdown since opposition leader Juan Guaidó, a 35-year-old lawmaker, declared himself interim president last month with the support of the Trump administration and several European nations.

Health officials confirmed that two people were killed on Saturday during a series of violent clashes with the Maduro-aligned military in Santa Elena de Uairén, a town near the border with Brazil, according to The Associated Press.

Meanwhile, opponents of Maduro fought with security forces on a bridge separating Venezuela and Colombia, as they sought to recover emergency food and medicine from burning trucks stocked with boxes of U.S.-supplied humanitarian aid, the AP reported. Some 300 people were wounded in the skirmishes across the country.

President Donald Trump held a rally in Miami on Monday to denounce Maduro and socialism, attempting to court Venezuelan-American voters who fled to Florida amid economic turmoil in their home country.

“God Bless the people of Venezuela!” Trump tweeted on Saturday, later posting a minute-long compilation video of his Miami rally with the caption: “The people of Venezuela stand at the threshold of history, ready to reclaim their country – and their future.”

Harris pledged Saturday that if she were elected president, she would “immediately extend TPS status to Venezuelans.” TPS refers to Temporary Protected Status, a designation that allows roughly 300,000 immigrants to stay in the U.S. because they are unable to return to their home country because of a natural disaster or other dangerous circumstance.

“It’s the right thing to do,” Harris wrote online. “America must show moral leadership in this hemisphere.”

Other Democrats to have weighed in before Saturday's unrest include Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and former Vice President Joe Biden, who have said they consider Maduro a dictator and recognized Guaidó as the legitimate leader. Sen. Elizabeth Warren also has said she believed Maduro was a dictator.