Venezuela taking steps against US sanctions: Maduro

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro talks to the media in front of images of Venezuela's national hero Simon Bolivar, during a news conference at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela August 22, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

CARACAS - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced on Tuesday that his government is taking steps to defend the country against US economic sanctions.

Speaking at a press conference in the capital, the president said that Washington is planning a "commercial, oil and financial blockade," which would worsen the economic situation in the country.

"The economic measures being prepared by the US government will worsen the economic situation in Venezuela," explained Maduro, adding that bilateral relations are at their worst moment.

A defiant Maduro said that the threats of a military intervention by US President Donald Trump would not stop Venezuela from holding presidential elections in 2018.

"If Trump comes at the head of a military intervention, there will still be presidential elections in Venezuela," he said, before calling on Pope Francis to help scale back the "military threat."

Maduro told the Venezuelan people that their country was at the "center of a global operation" seeking to appropriate national resources.

However, he still said that there was an option to start a dialogue with the US and that he would be sending a letter to his American counterpart.

"I do want to talk with Trump, why wouldn't I want to speak with him? I tell you again, President Trump, whatever the future of our relations may be, you and I should be talking," said Maduro.

"I am certain that if he reads it (the letter), many things can change for the better...I hope he at least answers the letter I am going to send," he said.

Finally, he called for an international arrest warrant and an Interpol red notice against Venezuela's former attorney-general, Luisa Ortega Diaz, and her husband, German Ferrer, who have fled to Colombia, then Brazil.

Maduro called them "fugitives from justice" and blamed them for being involved in an extortion case and acting as foreign agents.