Venezuela warns of U.S. ambition to restore dominance in LatAm

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has warned that Washington is developing a plan to restore dominance in Latin America.

"The United States has an imperialist strategy to reconquer Latin America and the Caribbean," Maduro told a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

U.S. President Barack Obama heads the plan, and he believes he can reconquer economic, cultural, political and social dominance through the oligarchies of the Latin American countries, said Maduro.

The mushrooming of left-leaning governments such as Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Bolivia has sparked regional integration and autonomy, which are now threatened by renewed U.S. interest in the region, said Maduro.

Washington aims to eliminate the region's "progressive" governments by discrediting their leaders, said Maduro.

U.S. President Barack Obama earlier this month renewed sanctions on several top Venezuelan officials over human rights violations.

Maduro's remarks also came in the context of Obama's Latin America visit.

Obama made a historic visit to Cuba from Sunday to Tuesday, the first one by a sitting U.S. president in 88 years. He then flew to Argentina for a state visit, the first by a U.S. president in nearly 20 years. Endi