Top Venezuelan lawmaker slams U.S. sanctions against Venezuela's largest airline

President of Venezuela's National Assembly Jorge Rodriguez on Tuesday condemned U.S. sanctions against his country's largest airline and flag carrier Conviasa, and what he called a "hijacking" of a cargo plane in Argentina.

"Agents of the North American empire should know ... there is a river of people here who are rising up against the sanctions, who are rising up against the blockade, who are rising up against the attack on our company Conviasa," said Rodriguez.

The top lawmaker spoke in downtown Caracas, where thousands of protesters marched against the U.S.-led sanctions and illegal seizures of the nation's financial and nonfinancial assets abroad, including a cargo plane in Argentina, which belongs to Venezuelan company Emtrasur, a subsidiary of Conviasa.

The sanctions against Venezuela are the worst "that a country on this continent has ever suffered," said Rodriguez, a congressional deputy representing the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela.

The sanctions have mainly undermined the interests of children, the elderly and other vulnerable groups, he added.

On June 6, a Boeing 747 of Emtrasur, used to deliver humanitarian aid to the Caribbean and African countries, was seized by the Argentine authorities and was later impounded due to an order issued by a U.S. judge.