US denies military plan to oust Venezuela's Maduro

The United States has no plans to use armed forces to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a top military official said on Tuesday.

Navy vice admiral Craig Faller, the nominee to lead US military operations in Latin America, said Washington would continue monitoring the situation in the crisis-torn South American country, without providing details of likely actions.

"We are not doing anything other than normal prudent planning that a combatant command would do to prepare for a range of contingencies," Faller said during his senate confirmation hearing.

Maduro this month accused the US government of plotting to overthrow him by conducting secret meetings with renegade members of Venezuela's military.

The oil-rich OPEC country is mired in a severe economic crisis marked by hyperinflation, food shortages and a mass exodus of its citizens.

Analysts blame the turmoil on failed economic policies of Maduro, who won a second six-year term in May after elections that were widely denounced as rigged.

Faller's comments coincided with Colombian President Iván Duque's trip to the UN in New York, where he met with his US counterpart Donald Trump.

During a joint press conference, Trump said Venezuela's military could forcibly remove Maduro if it mobilized against the embattled leader.

"It's a regime that frankly could be toppled very quickly by the military if it decides to do that," Trump told reporters.

"You saw how the military spread as soon as they heard a bomb go off way above their head," Trump said, referring to an apparent drone attack against Maduro in August. "That military was running for cover. That's not good. I don't think the Marines would have run."

Meanwhile, the US treasury department on Tuesday imposed financial sanctions against Venezuelan first lady Cilia Flores and other senior officials.

The measures included a freeze on any financial assets in the US belonging to Flores, vice-president Delcy Rodríguez, communications minister Jorge Rodríguez and defence minister Vladimir Padrino.

The announcement came just over a year after Maduro had his assets blocked by the US government.

"We are continuing to designate loyalists who enable Maduro to solidify his hold on the military and the government while the Venezuelan people suffer," treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. "Treasury will continue to impose a financial toll on those responsible for Venezuela's tragic decline, and the networks and frontmen they use to mask their illicit wealth."