Venezuela to sue US over its decision to regard Caracas as national security threat

Venezuela will sue the US President over the "international illegality" of a decree which describes Caracas as a security threat to the United States and imposes sanctions against its senior officials.

“We can’t have that decree around. It’s like the Sword of Damocles here,” Maduro said in a TV speech on Thursday, as cited by the Latin American Herald Tribute.

“Venezuela is going to file a lawsuit in the United States itself over the international illegality of Barack Obama’s decree which has been threatening Venezuela since March 9 of this year.”

There has still been no reaction from Washington to Maduro’s words.

Maduro has previously slammed the US decree as a “colossal mistake” and “imperialist arrogance”.

READ MORE: Maduro: US trying to ‘defeat’ Venezuela govt with sanctions, we’ll fight back

“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,” he said in March, shortly after the decree was issued.

Maduro also launched a petition campaign that the decree be lifted. It has now reportedly collected about 11 million signatures.

In March, the country’s parliament also adopted a so-called “Anti-Imperialist Enabling Law for Peace,” granting Maduro power to circumvent Congress in issuing security and defense legislation until the end of the year, introduced with the apparent purpose of defending the country’s integrity and sovereignty against “imperialist threats” from the US government.

READ MORE: Venezuela’s Maduro gets decree rule powers to confront ‘US imperialism’

In April both Maduro and Obama participated in the Summit of the Americas in Panama, where many Latin American countries including Bolivia, Brazil and Ecuador criticized the US for its sanctions against Venezuela.

In July, Venezuela and the USA reportedly started the negotiations aimed at improving relations inspired by the US-Cuba talks – however, they seem to have brought about no positive results.