FILE PHOTO - Venezuela's Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez speaks during a broadcast at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela March 8, 2019. Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said on Friday that U.S. national security adviser John Bolton has been sending him messages asking him to do the “right thing.”

“Mr. Bolton, I tell you that we are doing the right thing,” Padrino said in televised comments. “Doing the right thing is doing what’s written in the constitution. ... Doing the right thing is respecting the will of the people.”

It was not immediately evident if Padrino was referring to Bolton’s recent tweets, in which he made direct mention of Padrino.