Cochabamba, December 30 (RHC-teleSUR) -- The President of Bolivia and current chairman of the G77 + China, Evo Morales, condemned Monday, on behalf of the bloc, the diplomatic sanctions that the U.S. government has imposed against Venezuela.

“The Group of 77 and China expresses its strong opposition to the unilateral sanctions imposed by the US government against Venezuela,” read Morales during the opening ceremony of an arts institute in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

Morales also reminded that last month during the bloc’s summit in Bolivia, the group signed an agreement condemning the imposition of legal sanctions with extra-territorial effects by some nations to others, as well as the “rest of the economic coercive measures being implemented against developing countries.”

The U.S. government says that Venezuelan government officials committed human rights violations during the protests that erupted last February in Venezuela.

Despite U.S. claims, the Venezuelan government has consistently denied that excessive force was used against protestors.

The United States has long maintained a hostile stance towards Venezuela, including the coup against then President Hugo Chávez in 2002.