US Sanctions 4 Venezuelans Including Former Judge, Treasury Says

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The United States has designated an ex-former Venezuelan judge and a governor and two other individuals in its latest round of sanctions against the Latin American nation, the Treasury Department said in a press release on Friday.

“Today, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated four key figures that have facilitated the illegitimate Maduro regime’s efforts to undermine the independence and democratic order of Venezuela”, the release said.

The sanctions target former magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice and now the Principal Rector and President of the National Electoral Council Indira Maira Alfonzo Izaguirre, former Venezuelan governor David Eugenio De Lima Salas, Solicitor General Reinaldo Enrique Munoz Pedroza, and National Electoral Council officials Jose Luis Gutierrez Parra.

The Treasury Department said the Supreme Court of Justice ruled last April that Munoz Pedroza is the country’s Solicitor General with all functions representing Venezuela before national and international third parties concerning the country’s wealth and assets.

The Treasury Department also said the Supreme Court of Justice named in June a new National Electoral Council thereby subverting a power granted to the National Assembly under Venezuela’s Constitution.

From November 2019 through January 2020, the release added, De Lima Sala was the leader of two “vote-buying” corruption schemes allegedly orchestrated on behalf of Maduro.

The US State Department has urged its partners to reject the results of the upcoming elections in Venezuela.

Many of the Western sanctions have targeted Venezuela’s state-run oil and gas company Petroleos de Venezuela, and its subsidiaries, in an attempt to seize its foreign assets and prevent the firm from completing transactions.

In mid-August, Bloomberg reported that Washington was weighing up the possibility of tightening sanctions on Venezuela to cut off the possibility of the South American country conducting oil transactions through trading fuel.

Venezuela has been suffering from a severe political crisis after Guaido proclaimed himself interim president, contesting the re-election of Maduro last year.

The self-proclaimed interim president immediately received support on the part of the United States and European countries, which have also denounced Maduro’s re-election. China, Cuba, Russia and a number of other countries have endorsed Maduro as Venezuela’s only legitimate president.

Sourse: sputniknews.com