US declares Oil Rich Venezuela a ‘security threat’ after failed coup attempt

Non-Aligned Media

Reuters reports that on Monday the regime in Washington “declared Venezuela a national security threat and ordered sanctions against seven officials in the worst diplomatic dispute with the oil-rich country.”

Washington’s sanctions come just on the heels of an attempted coup against the revolutionary government in Caracas led by Hugo Chavez’s successor Nicolas Maduro. In late February of this year Maduro expelled three US officials from the country for allegedly plotting with the US-backed opposition to oust him.

In a televised broadcast, Diosdado Cabello, the president of Venezuela’s national assembly, presented evidence of the right-wing coup plot. Computers seized by Venezuelan authorities revealed plans by the opposition to carry out attacks on the Miraflores presidential palace and the headquarters of the news channel teleSUR. [MORE]