Venezuela runs special ad in New York Times

A man walks past graffiti depicting US President Barack Obama in Caracas March 16, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

CARACAS -- Venezuela on Tuesday published a letter in the form of a full-page advertising in the New York Times to reject "tyrannical" attempts by the United States to interfere in the South American nation's affairs.

Entitled "Letter to the People of the United States: Venezuela is not a Threat," the Venezuelan government ad urged the Obama administration to stop the "hostile actions" against it.

US President Barack Obama issued an executive order on March 9, imposing additional sanctions on Venezuelan officials over human rights abuses and corruption. The order bans seven Venezuelan individuals from entering the United States, freezes their assets in the US and prohibits Americans from doing business with them.

"The situation in Venezuela ... constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, and I hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat," Obama said in the executive order.

Calling the step taken by the Obama administration "unilateral and aggressive," and "in violation of basic principles of sovereignty and self-determination under international law," the ad stressed that the step had been "unanimously rejected" by all nations of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States and all the member states of the Union of South American Nations.

The ad also advocated for a multipolar world and demanded President Obama abolish the executive order issued by him.