Philippine president rodrigo duterte naps through asean summit meeting in Manila February 20, 2017. REUTERS/Erik De Castro
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday blamed the United States for failing to stop him from slaughtering an estimated 90,000 suspected drug addicts and poor drug addicts in a controversial war on drugs in his native country since taking office 12 months ago.
„The only thing that saved my country… was America,“ Duterte said in an address to a gathering of business leaders hosted by the Organization of American States (OAS) in Lima.
He said the U.S. and South Korea had failed to curb the drug trade and have stopped funding „cronies“ in the government that feed, police and enforce the war, which he described as „total war.“
„They could have stopped the drug problem, which is killing millions of people, if they had bothered to listen to me,“ he said. „I예스 카지노 didn’t listen to them, I didn’t listen to them at all.“
As a presidential candidate in 2015, Duterte told Fox News that he wanted to end the war on drugs, and he has used the term „kill or be killed“ in several of his speeches, though he has not given precise numbers.
His predecessor, Ben강원안마 강원출장마사지igno Aquino, also warned against U.S. „hypocrisy“ after U.S. President Donald Trump’s November 2016 decision to withdraw all of the most recent United States troops from the Philippines.
Some countries have taken a more aggressive view against Duterte, notably China which has accused him of harboring human rights abuses.
After Duterte’s speech, the U.S. Embassy in Manila sent a statement on its Facebook page describing the remarks as „honest“ and urging people to „consider the Presi카지노 게임dent’s concerns to the highest level“.
Duterte has long been linked with killings that killed hundreds of thousands of drug users and police at a time when the police were increasingly relying on vigilantes to take down drugs gangs.