Venezuela has slammed the US for passing a bill which would impose sanctions on officials from the country over its treatment of protestors.
President Nicolas Maduro said the US senators who passed the bill were "insolent" and that the US wanted to "challenge Venezuela with sanctions and threats".
"If the crazy path of sanctions is imposed, President Obama, I think you're going to come out looking very bad," Madura warned the US president.
"Who is the US Senate to sanction the homeland of Bolivar? We don't accept insolent imperialist sanctions," he added.
The Venezuela Defense on Human Rights and Civil Society Act was passed by the senate on Tuesday, and targets current and former Venezuelan officials who directed "significant acts of violence or serious human rights abuses against persons associated with the anti-government protests in Venezuela that began on 4 February".
Senator Robert Menendez, who introduced the bill, said it sent an "unequivocal message to the government of Venezuela".
"For too long, Venezuelans have faced state-sponsored violence at the hands of government security forces and watched their country's judiciary become a tool of political repression," the senator said.
"We in the United States have an obligation to shine a bright spotlight on Venezuela's abuses and must object to the severe human rights violations committed by the Maduro government and his paramilitary thugs."
A similar bill was passed by the House of Representatives in May and will now be reconciled with the Senate version, and if passed, will be sent to President Barack Obama, before being enacted.