Venezuela’s Maduro Recalls Brazil Ambassador Over Coup

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro recalled his ambassador to Brazil, Alberto Castelar, to Caracas Friday to evaluate the decision of legislators to suspend President Dilma Rousseff from office as part of the ongoing impeachment trial.

“We were evaluating this painful page in the history of Brazil,” Maduro said in a radio and television broadcast on Friday in the wake of a 55 to 22 vote to temporarily remove the president from office for 180 days for allegedly violating budgetary laws.

Maduro echoed Secretary-General of the South American bloc UNASUR, Ernesto Samper, and other leftist government in the region in rejecting the assault on Rousseff, the legitimate president of Brazil. Maduro argued that Rousseff, the first woman president of Brazil, has been the victim of a coup.

The Venezuelan president, a close ally of Rousseff’s government, called the decision of the Brazilian lawmakers “totally unfair play.”

He also called on all of Latin America and the Caribbean to raise its voice to make the world aware of what is happening in Brazil and in the region.

The move to recall the ambassador to Brazil comes as Maduro also faces a right-wing campaign that seeks to remove him from office.

Brazil’s Senate approved the opening of an impeachment process against Rousseff Thursday, installing Vice President Michel Temer as president temporarily.