Caracas, March 16 (teleSUR-RHC) The Venezuelan parliament passed a special law on Sunday to enable President Nicolas Maduro to deal with exceptional circumstances presented by the latest U.S. threat to the country.

The majority of members of parliament voted in favor of the law, which the government requested in light of U.S. President Barack Obama's fresh sanctions on Venezuelan officials, plus his statement that Venezuela presents a “national security threat” to the United States.

“This aggression was not only against President Nicolas Maduro but against all the Venezuelan people,” said the president of parliament, Diosdado Cabello.

Speaking last week on national public television, Maduro explained that the proposal had been written together with the deputy attorney general, Reinaldo Muñoz, in order to preserve Venezuela’s “integrity, sovereignty, in the face of any circumstances that could arise with this imperialist aggression.”