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Cardin Statement on Duterte Holocaust Comments

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and its Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific, released the following statement Friday after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was recorded comparing Hitler’s Holocaust to his desire to kill drug users and drug dealers in his country: 

“It is reprehensible and frankly disgusting that a democratically-elected leader is talking about the mass murder of his own people, with Hitler’s Holocaust as his inspiration no less. I recently spoke out on the Senate floor about my deep concerns that President Duterte's comments and the vigilantism and mass murder of his so-called war on drugs have bought our bilateral relationship, and our alliance, to a critical crossroads. His latest comments give me grave concern.” 

Background:

This week, Senator Cardin and Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, entered a colloquy into the Senate record on recent developments in the Philippines and the U.S.-Philippine relationship. That conversation can be read by clicking here. 

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