United States says sanctions meant to hit Venezuela government
CARACAS, Venezuela >> U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says sweeping new sanctions against Venezuela are aimed at turning up the heat on embattled President Nicolas Maduro while sparing the Venezuelan people from further harm.
Mnuchin said today that President Trump’s executive order barring U.S. banks from providing new money to the Venezuelan government or state oil company will ensure Maduro can no longer utilize the U.S. financial system to “facilitate the wholesale looting of the Venezuelan economy.”
He said the sanctions were crafted to strike a balance between targeted efforts aimed at cutting Maduro’s ability to raise new money while also allowing some exceptions to ensure ordinary Venezuelans are not afflicted.
The sanctions are nonetheless another blow to Venezuela’s economy. Venezuelans are struggling with triple-digit inflation, food and medical shortages.
Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza spoke at the United Nations today, hours after the Trump administration announced the new measures, calling the sanctions “the worst aggressions to Venezuela in the last 200 years, maybe.”
He asked whether Americans “want to starve the Venezuelan people.” He said his government won’t let the U.S. “create a humanitarian crisis.”
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Venezuela has already been wracked by widespread shortages and triple-digit inflation as its oil-dependent economy has faltered.
The White House said in a statement that the sanctions “are carefully calibrated to deny the Maduro dictatorship a critical source of financing to maintain its illegitimate rule, protect the United States financial system from complicity in Venezuela’s corruption and in the impoverishment of the Venezuelan people, and allow for humanitarian assistance.”
The new actions prohibit dealings in new debt and equity issued by the government of Venezuela and its state oil company. It also prohibits dealings in certain existing bonds owned by the Venezuelan public sector, as well as dividend payments to the government of Venezuela.
Arreaza said Maduro plans to send Trump a letter in response.
