US Slaps Sanctions on Lawmakers in Venezuela over Control of Parliament

Juan Guaido, Nicolas Maduro and Luis Parra. Photos: BBC.com

HAVANA TIMES – The United States on Monday slapped sanctions on seven people, all Venezuelan lawmakers or current or former government officials, accusing them of trying to illegitimately seize control of the National Assembly from the opposition, reported dpa news.

The Treasury Department announced the sanctions eight days after security forces prevented opposition leader Juan Guaido and about 100 opposition lawmakers from entering parliament.

Legislators supportive of President Nicolas Maduro elected Luis Parra speaker of parliament, while the opposition elected Guaido, who had presided over parliament since January 2019.

The US announced sanctions on Parra and six others.

“Treasury has designated seven corrupt National Assembly officials who, at the bidding of Maduro, attempted to block the democratic process in Venezuela,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.

The statement did not give details on the sanctions, which were imposed by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Maduro won a second term in a virtually unopposed election, widely considered fraudulent, in 2018 and has overseen a massive economic crisis that prompted millions of Venezuelans to leave the country.

Guaido declared himself interim president nearly a year ago. Dozens of countries recognized him as Venezuela’s legitimate leader, but he has been unable to oust Maduro, who has the support of the army.

One thought on “US Slaps Sanctions on Lawmakers in Venezuela over Control of Parliament

  • Is the USA the United Nations? Is the USA the Adolf Hitler of the world or the Police man of the world? Who ordained these duties to it? What moral authority does the USA which has supported the worst dictators in the history of mankind, have meddling into the Domestic Affairs of other countries? The United Nations Charter of 24th October 1945, declared that every member state is sovereign and there should be no interference in it domestic affairs. President Donald Trump is presently under impeachment.

    He is acting like a dictator. He has ordered the assassination of General Suleiman of Iran. He President trump acted as Judge and Jury and found General Suleiman GUILTY of planning attacks on USA citizens, so he assassinated him and the world must applaud the President for that. President Trump did not inform his citizens that they were under attack; the citizens were totally unaware that they were under attack. Only the President was privy to such information.

    Venezuela is a Sovereign and Independent Country. The USA supports Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Omar, The UAE (United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, never held Elections in their history. If President Trump so believes in so–called democracy, why doesn’t he attack them? The other day the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia was involved in the butchering of Journalist Khashoggi in Turkey, why didn’t President Trump who believes if FAIRNESS, to impose SANCTIONS on the Crown Prince?

    Why does the USA President keep meddling into the Affairs of Venezuela? Is it because it has followed the Socialist pathway where its citizens have access to Free Medical attention and Free Education which is TOTALLY against the doctrine of Capitalism, a system which enslaved a whole race of BLACK people and raped its continent of its natural resources? If the USA was to be placed under a microscope, so many blemishes would be discovered that it would be found unworthy to be associated with. That microscopic probe would show the HYPOCRITE the USA really is and the THREAT to WORLD PEACE it presents!

    I LOOK forward to the publication of my POST!

Comments are closed.