The United States is laying the groundwork for new sanctions against Venezuelan regime officials in response to the controversial re-election of Nicolás Maduro on July 28.
The Treasury Department is close to announcing 15 individual sanctions against officials affiliated with Maduro who allegedly “obstructed the holding of free and fair presidential elections,” according to documents seen by Bloomberg.
In addition, the State Department plans to impose visa restrictions on 34 family members of government officials, according to two people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak publicly.
The measures target key leaders the U.S. says collaborated with Maduro to undermine the July 28 election, a list that includes members of the electoral authority, Venezuela’s highest court, the National Assembly and the intelligence and military intelligence police forces known as SEBIN and DGCIM.
The plans could be announced as early as this week and are subject to change before they are finalized.
The latest wave of sanctions comes a month after the electoral authority declared that Maduro had been re-elected for a third consecutive term, despite electoral data published by the opposition suggesting he had lost by a wide margin.
Protests against Maduro’s declaration of victory swept the capital, Caracas, and other cities in the days after the vote, and more than 2,400 Venezuelans were arrested, including more than 100 minors, in the fiercest crackdown of his 11-year rule.
The U.S. and other countries have questioned the legitimacy of the vote count, and some Maduro allies have called on the government to publish the voting records.
On Monday, the Maduro regime ordered the arrest of presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, the winner of the vote according to the United States and others.
A Treasury Department press official declined to comment, and a representative for the Venezuelan government did not respond to requests for comment. A State Department official said the agency does not provide advance notice of sanctions.
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