Caracas, August 9 (RHC)-- Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez has demanded an end to foreign interference in Venezuela. 

Speaking Tuesday at the Sixth Extraordinary Meeting of the Political Council of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA), Minister Rodríguez demanded that all those interfering in the country’s internal affairs take their “hands off Venezuela.”  He added that those trying to bring about regime change in the South American nation are driven by cynicism and hypocrisy. 

The top Cuban diplomat underscored Cuba's strong rejection of the aggressive, violent stance assumed by U.S. imperialism and it lackeys –the regional oligarchies – against Venezuela and regional integration mechanisms.  He pointed to the principles and values contained in the proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a zone of peace and stressed that “the fight for Venezuela is the fight for the entire region and the world.”

He also congratulated the Bolivarian people for their victory last July 30th, when eight million Venezuelans went to the polls to vote for the Constituent Assembly.  He called the July 30 election “a lesson in democracy.” 

The top Cuban diplomat renewed the loyalty of ALBA members to the revolutionary legacy of regional independence heroes José Martí, Simón Bolívar, Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez.