CARACAS - Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodriguez on Monday rejected the idea that her country could become another US state, reaffirming Venezuela's sovereignty and independence.

"That is not planned. It would never be planned, because if there is one thing we Venezuelans have, it is love for our process of independence," Rodriguez said at a press conference in The Hague, where she was attending proceedings at the International Court of Justice.

Rodriguez said US President Donald Trump "knows we have been working on a diplomatic agenda of cooperation," adding that diplomacy remains the path forward.

"We will continue defending integrity, sovereignty, independence, our history, a history that is the glory of the men and women who gave their lives so that we might become not a colony, but a free country," she said.