New York, Mar 17 (EFE).- Venezuela on Tuesday took out a full-page ad in The New York Times to ask the U.S. government to immediately cease its “hostile actions” against Caracas and to retract the executive order declaring the South American nation to be a threat to its national security.

Entitled “Venezuela is not a threat,” the ad takes the form of a letter directed at the American people.

“Never before in the history of our nations, has a president of the United States attempted to govern Venezuelans by decree. It is a tyrannical and imperial order and it pushes us back into the darkest days of the relationship between the United States and Latin America and the Caribbean,” said the Venezuelan government in the text.

Caracas said that President Barack Obama’s decision to declare a “national emergency” over the “extraordinary risk” to U.S. national security of the overall situation in Venezuela was a “disproportionate action.”

Venezuela said that the “unilateral and aggressive” measure had been unanimously rejected by Latin American nations and demanded that the U.S. government reverse course and withdraw it.

In addition, the government of Nicolas Maduro demanded that the U.S. government “immediately cease hostile actions against Venezuelan people and democracy” and that Washington “retract its libelous and defamatory statements and actions” against the Venezuelan officials covered in the measure.

Venezuela directs its message to “our American brothers and sisters” to call attention to the “illegal aggression” it says was committed by the U.S. administration.

“The principles of the founding fathers of the United States of America are followed today with the same dignity by the people of Simon Bolivar. In the name of our mutual love for national independence we want the government of President Obama to think about and rectify this dangerous precedent,” the letter stated.

The text also criticized the sanctions imposed by the Obama administration on certain top Venezuelan government officials.

“President Obama, without any authority to interfere in our internal affairs, unilaterally issued a set of sanctions against Venezuelan officials with potentially far-reaching implications, interfering in our constitutional order and our justice system,” the letter said. EFE