U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday expressed support for a right-wing referendum to pull Venezuela’s leftist president Nicolas Maduro from power, provoking a powerful response from Maduro’s fellow socialist Evo Morales, president of Bolivia.
“We are sovereign states of the Great Motherland that fights for life and liberation.”
—Evo Morales”John Kerry continues to believe that Latin America is its backyard—and its people their peons—by asking for the recall of Nicolas Maduro,” wrote Morales on his Twitter account, in TeleSUR‘s translation.
“Kerry should know we are not anyone’s colony. We are sovereign states of the Great Motherland that fights for life and liberation,” Morales wrote.
Venezuela’s right-wing opposition has been pushing for a recall election to oust Maduro as the country struggles with food shortages and rolling blackouts in the wake of the plunge in oil prices.
And mere hours after expressing support for a referendum to oust Maduro from power, Kerry also announced “high-level talks to ease tensions” with Maduro’s government, Reuters reported.
Kerry’s comments were met with fury from Venezuelan foreign minister Delcy Rodriguez, “who accused Washington and OAS chief Luis Almagro of ‘international bullying,'” wrote Reuters.
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