REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, CARACAS -- A furious Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Monday US sanction measures were intended to topple his socialist government.

"President Barack Obama, representing the US imperialist elite, has personally decided to take on the task of defeating my government and intervening in Venezuela to control it," Maduro said in a national TV address.

"That's why they have taken today's measure," the president said in his first reaction to the US sanctions against seven Venezuela officials. The United States also declared that the South American nation represents a national security threat.

Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika