Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez has accused the Netherlands of allowing the United States to use Dutch islands off Venezuela’s Caribbean coast to prepare a possible military attack against his country, news agency AP reports.

AP says Chavez claims the US has sent intelligence agents, war ships and spy planes to the Antillean islands of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire.

‘They are three islands in Venezuela’s territorial waters, but they are still under an imperial regime: the Netherlands,’ Chavez was reported as saying during a speech at the climate change conference in Denmark. 

He called on the European Union to take a stance.

Chavez has repeatedly accused the US of conspiring with Colombia to topple his government, AP said.