Venezuela warns of U.S. attack and increases military by 1 million personnel

Venezuela has warned that the U.S. and two of its close Latin American allies are planning to launch a military intervention against the country's socialist leadership, which Washington has sought to depose.

Investigative website The Grayzone published an article Saturday detailing a high-level, off-the-record Center for Strategic and International Studies event where U.S. and Latin American officials allegedly discussed the potential use of military action against the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. In response, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez took to social media Monday to say that the U.S. was teaming up with Venezuelan neighbors Colombia and Brazil to stage an attack.

Rodriguez tweeted Monday that the "international community and its multilateral legal bodies must know that a criminal plan is underway to attack Venezuela militarily!" She said the U.S. and its allies' "pathetic show of recognition" for National Assembly head Juan Guaidó, who declared himself the country's interim president in January, "only masks the intervention in Venezuela."

She added: "U.S., Colombian and Brazilian officials who plot to ignore the will of the people of Venezuela through military violence are committing crimes against humanity and are internationally responsible! The same goes for those 'Venezuelans' who join in on this crime!"