Evo asks UNASUR to support Maduro

Bolivian Information Agency

LA PAZ, Feb. 23 –(ABI)– President Evo Morales of Bolivia on Sunday invoked the charter of the Union of South American Nations and called on UNASUR’s members to defend democratically elected governments against coups d’état. He also rejected statements from Chilean and Colombian leaders about the ongoing crisis in Venezuela.

“The democratic clause of the charter of the Union of South American Nations obligates the presidents to respect the results of the elections and defend the presidents elected at the ballot box,” Morales told the Bolivian Information Agency.

Morales, who has denounced the social disturbances in the past week as a form of conspiracy intended to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, deplored public statements made by the presidents of Chile, Sebastián Piñero, and Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, in which they asked Maduro to engage in a dialogue with the opposition leaders.

Morales also lamented a similar appeal made by President Barack Obama of the United States.

“We democratic presidents have an obligation to defend those presidents who were elected at the ballot box,” Morales said. “Piñera and Santos, led by Obama, have asked for a dialogue. They are mistaken.

“In the face of social grievances, a dialogue is an obligation. In the face of a coup d’état, no,” the president said.

Morales, who in 2008 successfully avoided an attempt by right-wing groups to divide the nation, also asked Latin American countries to free themselves from Washington’s meddlesome political tutelage.

“It is not possible that, 200 years after the foundation of the republic in Latin America, the presidents of Chile and Colombia are behind the United States,” he said.

Chile and Colombia gained their independence from Spain in 1810.