Maduro: Obama 'Personally Decided to Accomplish the Task of Overthrowing My Government'

Late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s equally paranoid successor said last month that Vice President Joe Biden is coming to get him.

Now, President Obama’s enforcement of sanctions passed by Congress three months ago has President Nicolas Maduro even more coup-convinced.

“President Obama, representing the imperialistic elite of the United States, has personally decided to accomplish the task of overthrowing my government and intervening in Venezuela in order to control it. That is why they took this step today,” Maduro said Monday evening, according to El Universal, after Obama imposed sanctions imposed on seven Venezuelan officials for human rights violations.

Last month, Maduro called upon Venezuelans to “be on the maximum alert level” as the Biden threat looms.

“A plan has been launched for a coup d’état. I know well what I am saying,” Maduro said, adding, “The imperial power has entered into a despair phase (…) They, in their madness, do not realize the strength (Venezuelan) people have.”

Maduro continued with his purge of opponents after that warning, arresting Caracas mayor and opposition leader Antonio Ledezma as the State Department swore that it wasn’t planning a coup against the Venezuelan president.

Today, Maduro also said he would “request a special enabling law to preserve peace in the country,” according to El Universal.

“I think our view, obviously, continues to be that he needs to spends more time listening to the views of the Venezuelan people,” State Department press secretary Jen Psaki said. “So that’s what we would recommend.”

“…It’s not promoting unrest in Venezuela as was suggested in the speech, or undermining Venezuela’s economy or its government; it’s making clear and sending a strong message about how — about the fact that we don’t accept human-rights abusers, corrupt officials.”