Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro Gets Criticized on Live TV

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro gets a televised critique from Congress leader Henry Ramos during a state-of-the-nation rebuttal.

The first month  of the year is a challenging one for Venezuela as President Maduro has declared an economic emergency a few days ago due to "catastrophic" inflation and growth figures. While bad news has been the topic of his three-hour speech, he also endured "the indignity of a nationally televised scolding" from Head of Congress Henry Ramos, according to a report by Fox News Latino.

Earlier that same day, Venezuela's Central Bank released bad news in the form of a report stating that the country's economy has contracted by 7.1 percent as of September 2015 with inflation ballooning by 141.5 percent.

Fox News Latino revealed that Venezuela has in fact the world's largest oil reserves. However, it currently suffers huge economic loss as the oil process dropped from more than $90 a barrel two years ago to just $24 today.

With just 60 days left to manage the crisis, Maduro described the Central Bank's numbers as "catastrophic" in his speech which aimed to defend his emergency declaration.

However, in all his good intentions to deliver a justified emergency declaration, Congress leader Henry Ramos responded by wagging his finger inches from the president's head during a live television broadcast aired across the South American country, according to The Record.

Congress leader Ramos then embodied a professorial attitude to negate Maduro's statement saying that he and former president are responsible for the crisis. "If you don't want to hear this, close your ears or leave," he warned while Maduro sips from his coffee cup and checks his watch as he is sitting.

Referring to the country's nose-diving currency, "If you give in to the desire to have more and more bolivars with the same number of dollars, your bolivars are going to lose value," Ramos noted.

Ramos lecturing the president himself on live television has caused shock among supporters and opponents alike. According to the same report, President Maduro "rarely exposes himself to questions from independent reporters, much less questioning from political opponents."

While both men seemed to be remaining good-humoured, Maduro maintained his position on key policies and vowed to counter the opposition's proposals which is "giving people who live in government housing the title to their homes."

"No, no and no, we will not permit it," Maduro stated. "You'll have to get rid of me first," he finally said.