VENEZUELAN Vice-President Tareck El Aissami hit back at US sanctions imposed on him with a full-page advert published in the New York Times on Wednesday.

The US Treasury slapped the sanctions on him over allegations that he was involved in drug smuggling and had aided Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah — claims gleaned from a series of sensationalist reports by the Associated Press (AP) news agency.

A group of 34 US Congress members from both parties wrote to President Donald Trump two weeks ago urging action based on those reports — a letter that was leaked to AP.