Venezuelan foreign minister visits Bronx for 3-floor Hugo Chavez mural debut

NEW YORK, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez visited New York City's Bronx borough for the inauguration of a three-floor-tall mural of late former President Hugo Chavez.

Rodríguez visited the mural Thursday during her visit to the United States for the 71st Session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

"Commander Chavez had a special feeling for this neighborhood," Rodríguez said. "That is why we are here, because we feel that you are like us."

The mural was painted by Andre Trenier, who was born and raised in the Bronx.

Venezuela is facing a political and economic crisis. The Venezuelan opposition, consolidated in the Democratic Unity Roundtable coalition, is making efforts to hold a recall referendum seeking to oust President Nicolas Maduro this year.

On Wednesday, Venezuela's National Electoral Council, or CNE, released a recall referendum process timetable that could keep Maduro's United Socialist Party of Venezuela in power until 2018.

Venezuela's economic crisis has caused basic goods, including food and medicine, to be in short supply, unavailable or unaffordable.