COLOMBIA is preparing “false flag” incidents along its border with Venezuela that could be used as an excuse for US invasion, a top Venezuelan politician has warned.

Freddy Bernal co-ordinates the local committees for supply and production, which organise distribution of food to counter shortages caused by US sanctions, inflation and the smuggling of cheap subsidised foods abroad, where they can be sold at a profit.

He said he had “direct information” from officers in the Colombian police that their government was involved in planning attacks which could involve mercenaries or defectors from the Venezuelan military staging incidents with the Colombian army at border spots.

A stunt in which Venezuelan opposition figures tried to import US aid across the border resulted in clashes.

“I want to warn the international community that a mode of war is being prepared against Venezuela aimed at causing internal chaos through the incursion of paramilitaries, mercenaries and some traitors,” he announced.

His warning follows an admission by US National Security Adviser John Bolton that the US was working to create a “broad coalition” to “replace Maduro, replace the whole corrupt regime” in Venezuela.

Mr Bolton said the Donald Trump administration was “not afraid to use the phrase ‘Monroe Doctrine’,” when asked why it was targeting Venezuela while maintaining close alliances with tyrannies such as Saudi Arabia. The doctrine, dating back to the 1820s, denoted the Western hemisphere as a zone of US influence.