Bolivia's Evo Morales Slams Trump, Almagro for Hostility Toward Latin America's Left

The Bolivian president said Donald Trump is the "only despot in the world" and called for greater attention to the political crisis in Brazil.
Bolivian President Evo Morales shared strong words on his Twitter account Monday directed at both U.S. President Donald Trump and Organization of American States chief Luis Almagro, slamming attempts at foreign intervention and arguing that instead of dwelling on Venezuela, attention should now turn to the deepening political scandal rocking Brazil.

“Instead of obsessing over Venezuela, Almagro should look more at Brazil, which is living a political crisis provoked by corrupt coup-backers,” Morales wrote on his Twitter account.

The comments come amid opposition protests in Venezuela, ongoing for more than 50 days and increasingly spilling over into violence, as well as a new political bombshell in Brazil after a wiretap released last week provided evidence that unelected President Michel Temer had endorsed bribes to ensure the silence of a powerful witness in government corruption cases.

Morales and other progressive leaders in Latin America slammed the installation of Temer’s government last year through the removal of his predecessor Dilma Rousseff as a parliamentary coup. The witness who Temer is accused of being involved in paying off to keep quiet, former speaker of the lower house of Congress Eduardo Cunha, was the chief architect behind Rousseff’s ouster.

Although the ill-footed impeachment process attracted widespread national and international criticism, Almagro and the OAS have repeatedly turned a blind eye to the incident and the political crisis it continues to give rise to in the South American country. Meanwhile, Almagro has kept his sights firmly set on Venezuela, promoting sanctions against Caracas within the OAS.

The Bolivian leader known for taking a stand against imperialism isn’t backing down as the OAS continues to attack on Venezuela.

Meanwhile, Morales also criticized U.S. President Donald Trump, accusing him of violating human rights and promoting foreign intervention in the wake of hostile comments from Washington toward Cuba.

“The only depot in the world is Trump for discriminating against migrants and women and imposing aggression and intervention on the peoples of the world. Ridiculous,” tweeted Morales Monday.

Trump slung insults at Cuba Saturday in a speech marking the anniversary of the founding of the Cuban republic, accusing President Raul Castro of overseeing “cruel despotism” on the socialist island. Cuba fired back by slamming Trump as “ill-advised” and his comments as “ridiculous” and “clumsy.”

Trump has demonstrated hostility toward Cuba and rejected the thawing of U.S.-Cuba ties, claiming that the normalization process should be scrapped unless Havana agrees to a better “deal,” while Raul Castro has reaffirmed that despite the changes the socialist country will never head toward capitalism.