Western Hemisphere
Venezuela's Ministry of Foreign Affairs described as "clumsy and aggressive" the statements on Venezuela issued by the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and demanded a "rectification" for the sake of the relations between the two countries.

The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry issued a statement questioning the good intentions of the United States to "repair" bilateral relations, given Clinton's remarks during an interview broadcast on Tuesday by private TV news channel Globovisión, Efe reported.

''It's difficult to believe that the intentions to repair bilateral relations are sincere when such unfriendly actions are taken (…) The concepts issued (…) represent a clumsy and aggressive signal from the government of the United States to Venezuela, Latin America and the Caribbean."

The Foreign Ministry added that it "rejects this disrespectful gesture and demands a rectification for the good of bilateral relations."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed that Clinton "repeated the old habit of giving recipes and assessing the Venezuelan democracy and the sovereign relations that Venezuela has with other nations."

The statement said that the insinuations made by the Secretary of State "reflect a profound lack of knowledge about our reality and disdain towards the will expressed several times by our people in the context of a real participatory democracy."