On Saturday President Trump asked the president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, to visit the White House, according to the New York Times. Duterte is an authoritarian leader and has an abysmal human rights record, which includes accusations of ordering extrajudicial killings of suspects in the ongoing drug war inside the country.
The White House issued a statement on Saturday night that said Trump had a “very friendly conversation with Mr. Duterte,” and in that conversation they had “discussed the fact that the Philippines is fighting very hard to rid its country of drugs.”
Throughout his first six months in office more than 6,000 people were killed in the war on drugs. Duterte took office in June of last year, and there have been reports of unlawful jails that are kept secretly. Duterte also made a promise to kill 100,000 criminals in his first six months in office and said that he would fill the Manila Bay with so many bodies that the “fish will grow fat.”
Duterte admitted to having suspected criminals killed while he was the mayor of Davao City, according to CNN.
CNN reported:
However, Duterte spoke positively after a phone call with the then President-elect Trump in December, describing him as "animated." Duterte said he told Trump that Filipinos "are tight with America.""He was wishing me success in my campaign against the drug problem," he said at the time. "He understood the way we are handling it and he said there is nothing wrong with protecting your country."
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