Venezuela FM rejects 'racist' Trump threats

Venezuela on Tuesday accused Donald Trump of racism and seeking a new Cold War after the US president told the United Nations he was ready to act to "restore their democracy." "This racist and supremacist theory which he's exposing, this return to the Cold War, for a moment we didn't know if we were listening to president Reagan in 1982 or President Trump in 2017," Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said. "We do not accept threats from President Trump or whoever in the world. We are people of peace -- peaceful people -- and we want relations of mutual respect," Arreaza told reporters at the United Nations. He called Trump's first speech at the United Nations "sad for the world," saying he "talked as a general of the army, to invade other countries." Venezuela has been rocked by months of economic chaos and deadly protests as President Nicolas Maduro consolidates control, including through a new Constituent Assembly that wrests power from the opposition-dominated legislature. In his speech, Trump called the situation in Venezuela "completely unacceptable" and called for help so the country's people can "regain their freedom, recover their country and restore their democracy." "The United States has taken important steps to hold the regime accountable. We are prepared to take further action if the government of Venezuela persists on its path to impose authoritarian rule on the Venezuelan people," Trump said.