Bolivia’s president says US planning coup in Venezuela
Bolivia's President Evo Morales speaks at a press conference in the capital, La Paz, April 16, 2013.
In a press conference on Tuesday, the Bolivian president said that the US is getting ready for a coup d’État in Venezuela.
He also rejected the White House’s moral authority to question electoral results worldwide, after Washington demanded Caracas to hold a full vote recount.
“I am certain that behind those remarks, the United States is preparing a coup d’État in Venezuela,” said Morales.
“I would like to express that this is a flagrant US interference in Venezuela’s democracy, as neither that spokesperson nor the US government has moral authority to question electoral results in any Latin American country or around the world.”
Morales also confirmed that he would attend Nicolas Maduro’s inauguration ceremony next Friday as a sign of support to the president-elect.
Since the electoral authority declared Maduro the winner, the opposition has staged several violent protests, leaving at least seven people dead and over 60 others injured.
Defeated Venezuelan presidential candidate Henrique Capriles cancelled a planned protest march for Wednesday after Maduro vowed he would not allow the rally to go ahead.
Maduro won the Sunday’s presidential election by 50.8 percent of the votes against the opposition leader’s 49 percent.
On March 8, Maduro became Venezuela’s acting president, following the death of late President Hugo Chavez, who lost a two-year-long battle with cancer on March 5.
Maduro has promised to continue the socialist policies of the former leader.