WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S.Department of the Treasury has imposed sanctions on 21 security and cabinet-level officials aligned with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. This includes 15 leaders of the Bolivarian National Guard, Bolivarian National Police, the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service, Bolivarian militia, and the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence.
These are part of Maduro's security apparatus and are responsible for violently repressing peaceful protesters and carrying out arbitrary detentions, the White House said.
The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control said these officials have carried out Maduro's orders to repress civil society in his efforts to fraudulently declare himself the winner of Venezuela's July 28 presidential election, thus ignoring the will of the overwhelming majority of Venezuelan voters who elected Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as their next president.
Concurrently, the Department of State imposed new visa restrictions on a significant number of Maduro alliance officials who have undermined the electoral process in Venezuela and are responsible for acts of repression.
The United States has so far sanctioned 180 Venezuelan officials and 100 Venezuelan companies to hold them accountable for undermining democracy in Venezuela and for violating human rights.
Following the election, Venezuelan security forces have arrested democratic opposition supporters en masse, violently suppressed protests, and denied individuals the right to assemble peacefully without backlash. President-elect Urrutia has fled the country after the government issued an arrest warrant against him.
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