Washington. The United States responded to disputed elections in Venezuela on Thursday by imposing sanctions against 16 allies of President Nicolas Maduro, accusing them of obstructing the vote and human rights violations.
Among those sanctioned are the president of the Supreme Court, leaders of the security forces and prosecutors. The measure comes days after the exile of Edmundo González Urrutia, the former diplomat who represented the main opposition parties and claims to have won the July 28 elections by a wide margin.
Venezuela’s electoral authorities declared Maduro the winner but, unlike in past elections, never published a breakdown of the vote counts. Global condemnation of the lack of transparency prompted Maduro to ask the Supreme Court, dominated by loyalists of the ruling party, to audit the results. The court upheld Maduro’s victory.
Experts from the United Nations and the Carter Center, who observed the elections at the invitation of the Venezuelan government, determined that the results lacked credibility.
“Instead of respecting the will of the Venezuelan people as expressed at the ballot box, Maduro and his representatives falsely declared themselves winners while repressing and intimidating the democratic opposition in an illegitimate attempt to cling to power by force,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
The State Department announced new visa restrictions against Maduro allies accused of disrupting the vote and repressing the Venezuelan people. The department did not name those individuals.
The Treasury Department has penalized more than 140 current or former Venezuelan officials. The State Department has identified nearly 2,000 individuals who could be subject to visa restrictions on charges of corruption, undermining democracy or violating the human rights of Venezuelans.
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– 2024-09-14 22:03:21
