Bolivian President Evo Morales said his country is ready to fight the U.S. to repel any aggression towards Venezuela, reported Sputnik News.
President Barack Obama signed an executive order last week declaring Venezuela a "national security threat" and ordering sanctions against seven Venezuelan officials over their alleged involvement in human rights abuses, sparking outrage from a number of Latin American countries.
"Bolivia is the beloved child of Simon Bolivar and this country is prepared to fight to repel any aggression against Venezuela on the part of the United States," Morales said Tuesday during an emergency Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) meeting in Caracas, according to the Noticias24 news outlet.
Morales demanded that Obama "apologize" to Venezuela for making "threats."
"This is a perfect moment for us to unite even closer in the face of any such threat," he continued.
The Bolivian leader said he wants the U.S. to be the "great defender of peace in the world," not a country which "dominates in a military way," according to Sputnik.
"I want to tell you that this unit [ALBA] should be strengthened. I really believe that America is afraid of the process of democratic, peaceful and economic liberation of Latin America and the Caribbean," he said.
"The U.S. government must understand that we are not living in imperial times of the past," he added, reported BBC.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro stressed during the meeting that his country posed no threat to the U.S., according to BBC.
"Venezuela has no plans, did not have, nor will it ever have plans to attack the United States or hurt anyone," Maduro said.
Cuban leader Raul Castro also spoke out against the U.S., saying that "the U.S. needs to understand once and for all that it cannot seduce or buy Cuba, just as it cannot intimidate Venezuela," adding, "Our unity is indestructible."
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega alleged that it was not Venezuela, but rather the U.S. who poses "a threat to global security. This is not rhetoric, it is reality."
Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said that considering the U.S. "has made torture legal and ... developed the most powerful mass surveillance system," he wonders what it could teach Latin American nations about human rights, BBC reported.
