Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's president, has said that the US government, allegedly frustrated by failed assassination plots against him, was now planning to sabotage the oil-producing country's economy.
Speaking on his newly scheduled prime-time TV talk show, Chavez on Thursday predicted that "one of the fiercest battle fronts" was coming.
Washington is readying to destroy Venezuela economically, he claimed.
Chavez said that recent comments by Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, accusing him of "destroying" his country's economy meant that "the imperialist plan of the moment" had turned to economic sabotage.
Reiterating past claims that the US government is plotting to kill him, he said: "[That is] one of the plans. The other is assassination.
"We've neutralized various attempts, and I have faith we will continue neutralizing them. But they won't rest."
Chavez said that recent urgings by George Bush, the US president, for his country to reduce its oil dependency on unfriendly nations, including Venezuela, meant that Venezuela was already on "the drawing table" and Washington was laying its plans.