Bolivia’s president defends his right not to tie his own shoelaces

Bolivia’s leftist President Evo Morales is coming under a wave of criticism after a video surfaced online showing one of his bodyguards bending down to tie his shoelaces.

Some opposition leaders have been tweeting out the video, calling it “shameful.”

“This is the equality promoted by 21st-century socialism,” former presidential candidate Samuel Doria Medina wrote on Twitter, mocking the president’s political ideology.

Morales’s supporters fired back claiming the opposition is seeking to  tarnish the president’s reputation. A former coca leaf grower and Bolivia’s first indigenous president, Morales has made social equality a key goal of his administration.

On Wednesday, Morales held a press conference to address the scandal. He told reporters he never asked anyone to tie his shoelaces and that the bodyguard did it out of “affection.”

Morales isn’t the only Latin American leader whose feet have ignited a wave of social media memes and jokes this month. Last week Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto was mocked for allegedly wearing his socks backwards.