The USA imposes sanctions on 16 Venezuelan officers over Nicolás Maduro’s “fraudulent claims of victory.”

This Thursday, the US imposed sanctions on 16 officers from the federal government, army, intelligence, Supreme Court docket and electoral authorities of Venezuela Obstruction of the “electoral course of” j Violation of civil rightsreported the Ministry of Finance.

The sanctions are aimed toward “key officers concerned fraudulent and illegitimate claims of victory (Election of President Nicolás) Maduro and his brutal post-election repression of freedom of expression whereas the overwhelming majority of Venezuelans demand change,” Finance Minister Wally Adeyemo stated in a press release.

The sanctioned members of the Supreme Court docket embody judges Inocencio Antonio Figueroa Arizaleta, Malaquías Gil Rodríguez, Juan Carlos Hidalgo Pandares, Caryslia Beatriz Rodríguez Rodríguez and Fanny Beatriz Márquez Cordero.

On the identical time, the Overseas Ministry banned the entry of “officers allied with Maduro” into the nation “who’ve undermined the electoral course of in Venezuela and who’re liable for the acts of repression.”

“As an alternative of respecting the desire of the Venezuelan individuals expressed within the elections, Maduro and his representatives falsely declared their victory whereas suppressing the vote They intimidate the democratic opposition in an illegitimate try and cling to energy,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated in a press release.

Because the July 28 elections, “Maduro and his proxies have indiscriminately arrested Venezuelans for exercising their political and civil rights and used a spread of intimidation ways to silence the opposition,” the administration of President Joe Biden denounced.

“These acts, together with the issuing of an arrest warrant in opposition to the profitable presidential candidate, compelled Edmundo González Urrutia to depart Venezuela to hunt asylum in Spain,” the assertion continued.

Urrutia acted as a consultant of opposition chief María Corina Machado after the authorities politically disqualified her from working within the elections. She has remained in Venezuela and asserted that the opposition received the elections by a big margin.

The announcement of Maduro’s victory for a 3rd six-year time period unleashed Protests wherein 27 individuals died, about 200 had been injured and greater than 2,400 had been arrested, whom the Chavista chief calls “terrorists.”

The USA has already imposed quite a few sanctions in opposition to Venezuelan officers up to now, together with in opposition to Maduro himself, whom Washington accuses of drug trafficking.

In April, President Joe Biden’s administration reinstated some Sanctions in opposition to the oil and fuel sector, after suspending them for a number of months to reward Maduro for laying the groundwork for the elections.

Nevertheless, it grants particular person licenses to function in Venezuela to a number of oil corporations, such because the American firm Chevron or the Spanish firm Repsol.

With the measures introduced as we speak, thus far, greater than 140 Venezuelan officers are topic to sanctions by the U.S. Treasury Division and almost 2,000 people are topic to visa restrictions by the U.S. State Division.

“The USA will proceed to advocate for accountability in opposition to those that undermine democracy in Venezuela,” Blinken warned.

The CNE proclaimed Maduro's re-election within the July 28 elections with out publishing the voting outcomes, however the opposition is claiming the victory of its standard-bearer Edmundo González Urrutia, who lately traveled to Spain and requested asylum there.