VENEZUELAN President Nicolas Maduro led thousands of supporters in a protest on Saturday against the renewal of US sanctions.

“Unlike the US, we have never killed innocent children nor bombed hospitals,” he said at the rally in the capital Caracas, vowing to fight imperialist intervention.

“I swore that I would never surrender to the oligarchy, under no circumstances,” Mr Maduro told crowd of red-shirted demonstrators. “Let them come for me. Nobody’s giving up here.”