RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The new Bolivian Foreign Minister, Karen Longaric, announced on Friday, November 15th, the rupture of relations with the government of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, the withdrawal from the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) and the departure of Cuban doctors, in a shift from the foreign policy employed for almost 14 years by former President Evo Morales.
The minister said at a press conference that Bolivia will leave UNASUR because, in fact, “the bloc no longer works, no longer exists and does not work.”
“We are no longer ALBA,” she said without providing much explanation, adding that the Venezuelan ambassador to Bolivia will be declared persona non grata.
Interim President Jeanine Áñez had already anticipated that her transitional government would recognize Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the legitimate president of Venezuela and had asked him to send an ambassador to Bolivia.
The foreign minister also said that the new Bolivian government has sent a complaint to Mexico over “hostile statements” that former President Evo Morales has made since he went into exile on Mexican soil.
Source: Veja