Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused the United States of "imperial abuse" after Washington banned US arms sales to his country.
Already hostile relations between the two nations descended further as Mr Chavez, who was speaking to the BBC during a visit to London, derided the United States as an "impotent empire" and said he would ignore the weapons ban.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
"The North American empire is becoming a paper tiger," he said through an interpreter.
"If it's true that the empire is taking sanctions against us, firstly it's a confirmation of imperial abuse, of imperial desperation (and) secondly we will take no notice. It is an impotent empire."
Despite Venezuela's repeated assertions that it works against terrorism, and particularly militants in the Andean region, Washington accused it yesterday of being unco-operative in the US war on terrorism.
The arms ban symbolically escalates a diplomatic crisis between Washington and oil-rich Venezuela and comes after years of friction between the two nations on issues ranging from trade to oil prices.