Venezuela Accuses Clinton of Trying To Divide Latin America

The Venezuelan government rejected comments made on [March 3] by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Brazil. Although Clinton’s Latin American tour has been unsuccessful, the government thinks that her arrival was intended to “intrigue” and “try to divide” the countries.

Clinton “has been launching intrigues at her public appearances to try to divide those countries that have been working for the union of our continent and to sow doubts about the revolutionary and democratic transformation processes,” said Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs Nicolas Maduro to a group of journalists.

“We reject and oppose Hillary Clinton’s statements against our country and warn our continental brothers to be aware (…) We have a continent that is on its way to unity, and this tour, which has already failed, brings the same old causes that made our continent to be subordinated in the past to Washington’s policies,” added Maduro.

In Brasilia, Clinton felt that the government of Venezuela raises concerns. “We are deeply concerned about the behavior of the Venezuelan government, which we think is unproductive with respect to its relations with certain neighbors, which we believe is limiting, slowly but surely, the freedoms within Venezuela, therefore adversely impacting the Venezuelan people.”

Clinton expressed confidence in the government of Venezuela. “We would hope that there could be a new start on the part of the Venezuelan leadership to restore full democracy, to restore freedom of the press, to restore private property and return to a free market economy. We wish Venezuela were looking more to its south and looking at Brazil and looking at Chile and other models of a successful country.”

For Maduro, these statements show that there has been no real change in attitude toward Latin America under President Barack Obama in relation to to his predecessor, George W. Bush, who had terrible relations with the government of President Hugo Chávez.

“On one hand, they shake hands and try to smile and give Latin America an image that this will be a different kind of relation; but on the other, they come with the same agenda. In Venezuela’s specific case, the interventionist agenda,” he said, describing the attitude of his counterpart as “insolent.”

“This is the two-faced nature of an administration that has continued with the worst causes inherited from the George W. Bush administration that have been already defeated,” he concluded.