The leader of France’s Socialist Party on Monday mocked left-wing critic Jean-Luc Mélenchon by asking if he had “chewed too many coca leafs” on a recent trip to Latin America, after he claimed that the country’s Socialist-ruled government had a right-wing agenda, reports FRANCE 24.
“He’s just trying to draw attention to himself, even if that means dividing the left… When I heard him, I asked myself if he hadn't perhaps chewed one too many coca leafs during his holidays in Latin America,” Socialist Party chief Harlem Désir said of firebrand leftist Mélenchon.
Mélenchon, a former presidential candidate allied with France’s Communist Party, spent much of the summer visiting South America, where he met the left-leaning presidents of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.
On his return to France, Mélenchon told the prominent weekly Journal du Dimanche (JDD) that President François Hollande, a Socialist, had turned his back on left-wing ideals and was encouraging voters to seek out the far-right National Front (FN) party.
He added that Interior Minister Manuel Valls had been “contaminated” by FN leader Marine Le Pen, in reference to the minister’s suggestion in early August that the government debate a ban on the Muslim veil in universities.
Read more of this report by FRANCE 24.