VENEZUELA denounced its suspension from regional trade bloc Mercosur, calling it “ideological and political aggression” on Saturday.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro publicly requested a meeting with his Uruguayan counterpart Tabare Vasquez over what he called an “unjust, illegal decision, motivated by the Venezuelan right.”

The moves to suspend Venezuela from Mercosur have coincided with the latest attempts by the US-backed Venezuelan opposition to overthrow the United Socialist Party government.

They coincided with attempts to invoke the Democratic Charter of the US-dominated Organisation of American States.

Mr Maduro said he would “exercise my right to defence of a homeland that is decent, that is free and that loves the history of our South America.”

“Let’s talk, to rectify is for the wise,” he said. “What they are trying to commit against Venezuela is ideological and political aggression by the Triple Alliance.”

Foreign ministers of Mercosur’s “Triple Alliance” — Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay — and Uruguay voted on Friday to suspend fifth full member Venezuela.

They claimed Caracas had failed to ratify or implement 300 mandatory regulations.

Paraguay was suspended in 2012 over the coup against president Fernando Lugo when Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay had left-wing governments friendly to Venezuela.

Mr Maduro pointed out that Venezuela had complied with 95 per cent of the bloc’s rules.

“They have judged and sentenced and declared us guilty without the right to defence,” he said. “It’s an aggression and an infamy, it’s a dirty trick.”

Ousted Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff said she expected no better from the unelected government of her former deputy Michel Temer.

“The suspension is an extreme and inappropriate recourse,” she said. “The measure shows the small-mindedness of the Brazilian government to the demands of Latin America.”

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez said her four Mercosur counterparts were “trying to create a coup d’etat” against her country.

“We are maintaining ourselves within the legality of the system,” Ms Rodriguez said, pointing out that Venezuela had not yet been formally notified of its suspension.