CARACAS, Venezuela

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro denounced the US Treasury Department on Sunday over its planned delivery of $150 million of the country’s funds from offshore accounts frozen by sanctions to the opposition led by Juan Guaido.

The funds have been frozen by the US since January 2019, when the Trump administration recognized Guaido as Venezuela’s president, arguing that the country’s 2018 presidential elections were rigged in favor of Maduro’s ruling party.

During Maduro’s speech on national television, the head of state said the opposition has become “gangster bandits.”

"It has become a juicy business of a pile of gangster bandits. They have left the field of politics to dedicate themselves to extortion and fraud," he said.

Maduro argued that the opposition will use these resources to continue “destabilizing” the country, for instance by financing a “communication war against Venezuela.”

He said that all of the Venezuelan government's financial resources that have been frozen internationally belong to the Venezuelan people, arguing that these could be used to acquire medicines, food and industrial supplies.

Maduro added that according to the latest polls, over 85% of the Venezuelan people are against the US sanctions on Venezuela, including the freezing of its assets overseas.