CARACAS

“WELL, IT WOULD be a way to save Australia from becoming another Venezuela, and once we had him in office we would just have him going all over the world having his photograph taken.”

So said a junior White House official when asked who might run Venezuela for the Americans now that they have removed Nicolas Maduro.

However, the idea has been torpedoed by ordinary Venezuelans who say they would rather have Maduro back with Jacob Zuma as his Vice President than endure Anthony Albanese as president.

The young US official sighed when he heard this. “Sorry, Australia. We tried,” he remarked.