September 12, 2024, 4:49 PM
September 12, 2024, 4:49 PM
The United States announced it will impose sanctions on 16 officials closely linked to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro following his controversial election victory in July.
The U.S. Treasury Department said its sanctions target “key officials involved in the fraudulent and illegitimate Maduro’s declarations of victory and his brutal repression of freedom of expression after the elections.”
Maduro was declared the winner of the July presidential election by Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE), which is closely aligned with the government.
But the CNE has not published detailed results supporting Maduro’s victory. Those published by the opposition suggest, on the contrary, that its candidate, Edmundo González, won.
The United States has refused to recognize Maduro as the winner, saying Gonzalez received more votes.
It is also among dozens of countries that have asked the CNE to publish detailed results from each polling station.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil reacted to the sanctions announced by the US with a statement in which he described them as a “crime of aggression” and a “gross act.”
“Little can be expected from the most hostile and bloodthirsty power that humanity has ever known,” he added, noting that the measures taken by the United States go against international law and Venezuelan democracy.
The officials mentioned in the Treasury Department statement They are banned from entering the US and all their property is blocked.
Among those sanctioned is Rosalba Gil, one of the five members of the CNE.
U.S. authorities are also targeting five Venezuelan Supreme Court judges who upheld the CNE’s decision to grant Maduro a third consecutive term.
Some members of Venezuela’s security forces have also been sanctioned, with the US Treasury Department accusing them of being “responsible for escalating repression through intimidation, indiscriminate detentions, and censorship.”
Post-electoral repression
More than 2,400 people have been arrested as part of the post-election repression launched by the Maduro government, many of them accused of “terrorism”.
Opposition candidate Edmundo González fled to Spain on Saturday after being accused of “serious crimes” including “usurpation” of public functions, falsifying documents, instigating disobedience and sabotaging the system.
The judge who issued the arrest warrant for Gonzalez is also among the 16 sanctioned by the US.
González requested asylum in Spain and met with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Thursday.
He said that despite being in exile now, his “determination to continue the fight to uphold the sovereign will of the Venezuelan people expressed on July 28 by more than eight million voters” has not wavered.
“The fight is until the endwhen all our families can finally reunite on Venezuelan soil,” he added.
González had replaced opposition leader María Corina Machado on the electoral ticket after she was disqualified from running for president by institutions close to Maduro.
Machado remains in hiding in Venezuela, from where he says he will lead the fight to have González sworn in as president on January 10, 2025, the day the new presidential term is due to begin.
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