He is a rock star who has never shied away from sharing his political views.

Roger Waters has previously called for a cultural boycott of Israel, demanded bands performing at the Super Bowl take a knee and labelled Julian Assange an Australian hero.

Now the former Pink Floyd frontman has weighed into the economic and humanitarian crisis engulfing Venezuela – and demanded the US lift sanctions placed on the South American country in a furious video message.

In selfie footage he said was to be played at the “Hands Off Venezuela” concert organised by embattled socialist president Nicolas Maduro, Waters also suggested US-led aid headed for the country was the precursor for a coup or invasion.

“I have admired you from afar, certainly since 1998, but before that,” he told concert-goers at the event on the country’s border with Colombia. “I have watched you from afar resisting all the attempts of the great imperial powers to destroy your revolution. You resisted in 2002 and you are resisting now…

“These dreadful sanctions that are being used against you, all of you, every single one of you, I condemn absolutely.”

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Showing off a puppet of Boris Johnson but appearing to indicate it was a stand-in for Donald Trump, the 75-year-old – who says he has friends in the capital, Caracas – added: “I have a message … lift the sanctions. If you care about the Venezuelan people, lift the sanctions.

“Do not invade Venezuela. This is a proud, independent sovereign nation and they can figure it out for themselves. The last thing they need is Elliott Abrams’ and John Bolton’s stamping all over their country with heavy boots… Viva Venezuela.”

He concludes the message, posted on Twitter on Sunday, by downing a shot of an unnamed spirit.

It came just days after he criticised Richard Branson for organising a separate concert – on the Colombian side of the border – to raise aid for people suffering there.

The country – once one of the richest in the world – has seen its economy collapse in recent years. Millions of citizens have emigrated in what has been called one of South America’s biggest ever refugee crises.

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