The United States announced Thursday sanctions against 16 Venezuelan officials aligned with President Nicolás Maduro for falsifying the results of the presidential elections on July 28. The sanctions affect the leaders of the National Electoral Council (CNE) and the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) who prevented a transparent electoral process and the publication of accurate election results. They also extend to military, intelligence and government officials responsible for intensifying repression through intimidation, indiscriminate arrests and censorship following Maduro’s defeat at the polls, the Treasury Department announced.
The goal is to hold them accountable for “committing electoral fraud, falsifying election results and intensifying repression to illegitimately extend Maduro’s mandate,” said a senior U.S. government official on condition of anonymity.
In parallel, the State Department has imposed new visa restrictions on officials close to Maduro who it believes have undermined the electoral process in Venezuela and are responsible for acts of repression. With these new visa restrictions imposed, nearly 2,000 people have been subject to visa restrictions for their role in the undermining of democracy, significant corruption, and human rights violations, US diplomacy announced.
Washington is clear that Edmundo González Urrutia won the July 28 election and says that, after the measures announced on Thursday, others will come to intensify pressure on the Maduro regime as part of an international effort. “We took these actions today because it has become abundantly clear to us not only that Edmundo González Urrutia won the majority of votes in Venezuela’s presidential election on July 28, but also that Maduro and his representatives are determined to deny this fact and instead seek to cling to power at all costs,” said a senior US government official in a call with reporters.
“Since the elections of July 28, Maduro and his representatives have indiscriminately detained Venezuelans for exercising their political and civil rights, and have deployed a series of intimidating tactics to silence the opposition,” he added, recalling that González Urrutia has had to leave the country and request asylum in Spain.
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In addition to the 16 people on Thursday, the United States has sanctioned more than 140 individuals and 100 Venezuelan entities, including President Maduro and Attorney General Tarek William Saab, and most of the senior civilian, military, intelligence, electoral, and judicial officials of his regime. However, these sanctions and international pressure have so far not had any effect in paving the way for democracy and respect for human rights. All property and interests owned by those sanctioned in the United States or controlled by U.S. citizens will be blocked and the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) will be notified.
Although the United States stresses that González Urrutia won the elections on July 28, it has so far avoided declaring or referring to him as president-elect. The European Union has also avoided doing so for now after the failed precedent of recognizing Juan Guaidó.
Asked about the possibility of imposing new oil sanctions on Venezuela, the senior US official declined to comment. “We are closely following the political and economic developments in Venezuela and are committed to appropriately calibrating our sanctions policy in response to both developments on the ground and broader US national interests,” he said.
“In coordination with our partners, we are also considering a range of options to demonstrate to Maduro and his representatives that their illegitimate and repressive actions in Venezuela will have consequences. We are also very focused on the implementation of existing sanctions, as well as evaluating how best to calibrate our sanctions policy toward Venezuela in light of broader U.S. interests,” he added.
The new sanctions
The new list includes the first vice president of the National Assembly, Pedro José Infante Aparicio. It also includes members of the Supreme Court, including its president, Caryslia Beatriz Rodríguez Rodríguez; its vice president, Fanny Beatriz Márquez Cordero, and judges Inocencio Antonio Figueroa Arizaleta, Malaquías Gil Rodríguez and Juan Carlos Hidalgo Pandares. Also included are judge Edward Miguel Briceño Cisneros and prosecutor Luis Ernesto Duénez Reyes, responsible for the arrest warrant against Edmundo González Urrutia. Also included are the general secretary of the CNE, Antonio Jose Meneses Rodríguez and member Rosalba Gil Pacheco.
The list is completed by prosecutor Dinorah Yoselin Bustamante Puerta; the operational strategic commander of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB), Domingo Antonio Hernández Lárez; the commander of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB), Elio Ramón Estrada Paredes; the commander of the capital region of the GNB, Johan Alexander Hernández Larez; the director of Criminal Investigations of the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence, Asdrúbal José Brito Hernández, and the deputy director of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN), Miguel Antonio Muñoz Palacios.
“The Biden-Harris Administration will continue to use our tools to hold Maduro and his cronies accountable and support the democratic aspirations of the Venezuelan people,” Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a statement.
