Bolivia's Morales reaffirms backing for Venezuela's Maduro

Bolivia's leftist President Evo Morales affirmed his long-standing alliance with President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday, with a tweet offering to stand by Venezuela's side against what he often calls U.S. meddling in South America's affairs. "Our solidarity with the Venezuelan people and our brother Nicolas Maduro, in these decisive hours in which the claws of imperialism seek again to mortally wound the democracy and self-determination of the peoples of South America," Morales said in the tweet.

(Reporting by Hugh Bronstein, editing by Ross Colvin)