Venezuelan president skips out on UNGA after 'threats'

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he canceled his plan to take part in the U.N. General Assembly in New York to "protect my life" after purported threats.

Maduro, who is back in Venezuela after a visit to China, said Wednesday that on a layover in Vancouver he received intelligence on what he said were "two highly serious provocations," which prompted him to scrap his U.N. trip.

"When I got into Vancouver I evaluated the intelligence which we received from several sources. I decided then and there to continue back to Caracas and drop the New York trip to protect a key goal: safeguarding my physical integrity, protecting my life," Maduro told local media.

One of the alleged provocations "had been planned against my physical integrity" and another could have involved violence in New York, the leading face of Latin America's left charged.

Maduro, speaking from an automobile plant, said that he would not reveal details of the plot so as not to compromise his information source.

He said he found it difficult to believe that President Barack Obama was not aware of the alleged plot.

Maduro blamed two former U.S. officials who he frequently cites as being behind alleged attempts to destroy his government: Roger Noriega, a former U.S. diplomat, and Otto Reich, who at one time was the U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela.

Earlier this month, Maduro said the White House is plotting the "collapse" of his government by sabotaging food, electricity and fuel supplies. Facing shortages of food, medicine and toilet paper, ahead of December regional elections Maduro announced measures designed to remove red tape for imports.

Maduro's predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez, also made regular claims about alleged U.S. plots to kill him. When Chavez spoke at the U.N. General Assembly in 2006, he called U.S. President George W. Bush the "devil."

"Yesterday, the devil came here," Chávez said. "And it smells of sulfur still today."

Al Jazeera and wire services