CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela on Monday said new U.S. sanctions restricting its ability to liquidate state assets and debt in the United States were “illegal measures.”

“(The sanctions) are madness, barbaric, and in absolute contradiction to international law,” Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said in a short statement at the Miraflores presidential palace.

In response to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s re-election on Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order, the latest in a series of sanctions that seeks to choke off financing for the already cash-strapped government.