Roundup: LatAm nations rally to defend Venezuela against U.S.sanctions

Latin American nations have rallied to Venezuela's defense after the United States ratcheted up its sanctions against the country's socialist government, the state Venezuelan News Agency (AVN) reported Tuesday.

Cuba, Ecuador and Bolivia expressed their support for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, following Washington's claim Monday that Venezuela posed "an unusual and extraordinary threat" to national security, and declared a "national emergency."

In a letter sent late Monday, Cuba expressed its "unconditional support," and said the U.S. measure "has put the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean on alert," the AVN reported.

Retired Cuban leader Fidel Castro lauded Maduro's television speech Monday night, calling it brave.

"I congratulate you for your brilliant and brave speech in the face of the brutal plans of the United States government," Castro said in a letter to the president.

Maduro said the U.S. president has taken "the most aggressive" step yet against the South American country.

He said the executive order is a "desperate" effort by Washington to oust the socialist government, following the failure in February of a planned coup by Venezuelan right-wing extremists backed by Washington.

In a statement issued by its foreign ministry, Ecuador said it "rejects any external or internal attempts to destabilize the democratic order and calls on the international community, and the United States in particular, to respect Venezuela's sovereignty."

Ecuador also slammed the new set of sanctions Washington announced Monday against several Venezuelan officials, saying the U.S. was meting out punishment "without any investigation or judicial order," and violating international law.

Early Monday, U.S. President Barack Obama signed an executive order imposing additional sanctions on seven current and former Venezuelan officials over alleged human rights abuses and corruption.

Bolivian President Evo Morales pledged "to defend Venezuela, as if defending Bolivia itself," reported the AVN.

Farther south, Argentine President's Chief of Staff Anibal Fernandez described the sanctions as "dangerous."

The AVN said organizations such as the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC),and the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA),and the world in general, have rejected the recent sanctions against Venezuela.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez said Tuesday via Twitter she instructed all of the country's diplomatic missions around the globe to denounce the "imperialist aggression of the United States government."

"Latin America is resolved to take no steps back in its path to freedom," Rodriguez said.

Obama's executive order bars the Venezuelan individuals -- all of whom are or were part of Venezuela's security apparatus -- from entering the United States, freezes any assets they may have there and prohibits Americans from doing business with them.

"The situation in Venezuela constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States," Obama said in the executive order, accusing the Venezuelan government of violating human rights, curtailing press freedom, and exacerbating public corruption. Endi