Venezuela blasts US Maduro indictment as 'coup'

[CARACAS] Venezuela's foreign minister accused Washington of a coup attempt on Thursday after the US Justice Department indicted President Nicolas Maduro for "narco-terrorism."

Jorge Arreaza charged that President Donald Trump was "once more attacking the Venezuelan people and its democratic institutions, using a new form of coup d'etat based on miserable, vulgar and unfounded accusations."

In an extremely rare criminal case against a foreign head of state, the Justice Department indicted Mr Maduro and several of his top ministers after accusing him of leading a cocaine trafficking group called "The Cartel of the Suns."

AFP