CORRECTION: The Bolivian government does not plan to expel Coca-Cola, the government announced Wednesday. The administration says the finance minister's comments were taken out of context.
Earlier this month, Bolivian foreign minister David Choquehuanca said that he hoped the country would mark the end of the Mayan calendar on December 21st by saying good-bye to Coca-Cola.
"December 21 of 2012 will be the end of egoism and division. December 21 should be the end of Coca-Cola,” Choquehuanca said, according to Russian news agency, RT.
Following his comment, news of Bolivia's banishment of Coca-Cola began circulating the Internet, with some saying the minister's statements represented a "symbolic rejection of US capitalism."
However, foreign ministry spokesperson Consuelo Ponce announced Wednesday that the statement made by Choquehuanca was taken out of context and that the country has no intention of banning Coca-Cola.
Instead it appears that the foreign minister was merely revealing his personal hopes.
Unlike the doomsayers who have predicted the apocalypse to occur on Dec. 21, Choquehuanca said he is optimistic that the end of the Mayan calendar will usher in a new and more progressive era -- one that will see "the end of hatred and the beginning of love."
“The planets will align for the first time in 26,000 years and this is the end of capitalism and the beginning of communitarianism,” he said.
The minister added that the people of Bolivia should opt to drink Mocochinchi -- a local peach-flavored drink -- as an alternative to Coke products, Russian newspaper Pravda reports.
What Choquehuanca failed to mention, however, is that the Bolivian government's other drink of choice -- a fizzy energy drink called "Coca-Colla" -- was given the stamp of approval by Bolivian president Evo Morales.
Correction: In a previous version of this article, it was stated that McDonald's had left Bolivia in 2011. The fast food franchise had, in fact, left the country in 2002.