Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued an incredible statement to Fox News on Friday, vowing to take “series of actions” in “the coming days” against Nicolas Maduro’s government in Venezuela.

The threat was couched in terms of being in the “best interest” of Venezuelans, and though Pompeo didn’t specify details, he said the US is “determined to ensure that the Venezuelan people get their say.”

“I think you’ll see in the coming days a series of actions that continue to increase the pressure level against the Venezuelan leadership folks who are working directly against the best interest of the Venezuelan people,” Pompeo told Fox.

It is the broad nature of the threat that makes it unusual, but particularly the timing and context, as it follows the early August failed assassination attempt on Maduro which interrupted a live television broadcast from Caracas. Maduro had been speaking at a military parade when two explosive-laden drones said to be flying in the direct of the podium exploded in the area.

In the aftermath the Venezuelan socialist leader blamed the United States and allied right-wing groups for being behind the attack, in a speech describing, “They tried to assassinate me today,” while blaming the attack on right-wing factions specifically connected to Columbia and Florida.

He claimed at the time that “several of those intellectually responsible and the financiers of this attack live in the United States, in the state of Florida,” and called on U.S. President Donald Trump to “fight these terrorist groups”.

The live broadcast on state television showing the assassination attempt:

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