Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and US Vice President Joe Biden will meet up in Chile tomorrow for President Michelle Bachelet's inauguration after a weekend of angry exchanges.

"We reject their aggression. They were defeated in the Organisation of American States (OAS) and now they want revenge," President Maduro (pictured) told a pro-government rally on Sunday.

He was reacting to Mr Biden's comments in a Chilean newspaper, suggesting that Maduro's government is using "armed vigilantes" against peaceful protesters and accusing it of "concocting false and outlandish conspiracy theories" about the US.

Barack Obama's administration was stung by the declaration of solidarity for Venezuela issued on Friday night by the OAS, which was set up by the US and used for decades to keep the region under control.

Washington said that the declaration contradicted the OAS charter, in part by stressing non-intervention in Venezuela over guaranteeing that human rights and free speech are respected there.

Twenty-nine states voted in favour of Friday night's declaration with only the US, Canada and Panama objecting in a dramatic illustration of regional changes in recent years.

"The situation in Venezuela reminds me of previous eras, when strongmen governed through violence and oppression and human rights, hyperinflation, scarcity and grinding poverty wrought havoc on the people of the hemisphere," the US vice-president told El Mercurio.

El Mercurio was funded lavishly by the CIA throughout the 1970s and '80s and was used to maintain a constant wave of propaganda and destabilisation against the progressive government of president Salvador Allende.

Mr Biden sought to reprise this role against President Maduro on Sunday, accusing his government of "confronting peaceful protesters with force and in some cases with armed vigilantes, limiting the freedoms of press and assembly necessary for legitimate political debate, demonising and arresting political opponents and dramatically tightening restrictions on the media."

Despite his references to peaceful protesters, the US-backed opposition has been attacking police and setting up barricades in wealthy areas to cause traffic disruption and raise tension.

"The only violent armed groups in the street are those of the right," declared President Maduro.

He accused the opposition of "receiving finance from the US" to undermine "a solid democracy that has had popular backing in 18 elections over 15 years."