The White House warned the Venezuelan president on Friday, Nicolas Madurothat if he does not “do the right thing” and publish the minutes of the results of the elections of July 28, USA will take further action against Venezuela.
“We have issued sanctions. We are not going to rule out anything in the future,” said the White House National Security spokesman, John Kirbyin a telephone press conference.
Kirby added that Maduro “has options and decisions that only he can make” and “the first decision he must make is to publish all the data and election results so that everyone can see how these elections were conducted and how and to what extent the will of the Venezuelan people was actually fulfilled.”
The United States on Thursday sanctioned 16 Venezuelan officials, including members of the Supreme Court of Justiceof the National Electoral Council (CNE) and of the National Assemblyfor “falsely” proclaiming the victory of Nicolas Maduro in the presidential elections on July 28.
Among those sanctioned are the president of the Supreme Court, Caryslia Rodriguez; the president of the Civil Registry and Electoral Commission of the CNE, Rosalba Gil Pacheco; and the vice president of the National Assembly, Pedro Infante Aparicio.
The State Department also banned “Maduro-aligned officials who have undermined the electoral process in Venezuela and are responsible for acts of repression” from entering the country, though it did not reveal their number or identities.
“Frankly, the most important decision right now for him is whether he’s going to do the right thing for the Venezuelan people. He has to make that decision. And if he doesn’t, we’ll have to make some additional decisions on our own.”Kirby added.
In response to these sanctions, the Venezuelan government issued a statement rejecting, in “the strongest terms,” the “new crime of aggression committed by the Government of the United States of America against Venezuela, by imposing unilateral, illegitimate and illegal coercive measures on a group of state officials.” EFE (I)
#announces #sanctions #Venezuela
