The U.S. on Tuesday announced the imposition of sanctions against four companies operating in Venezuela’s oil sector as part of an ongoing pressure campaign against the government of Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro.
The U.S. State Department disclosed this in a statement in Washington.
According to the statement, sanctions target the mechanisms for exporting oil from Venezuela to Maduro’s Cuban benefactors, who continue to prop up the former regime.
The U.S. also sanctioned four shipping vessels allegedly involved in the oil transfers to Cuba.
The move was the latest against Caracas, as Washington aimed to force Maduro to step down.
The U.S. and dozens of other countries had been on the side of the opposition leader, Juan Guaido, as Venezuela’s interim president.
The Secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, said: “Venezuela’s oil belongs to the Venezuelan people and should not be used as a bargaining tool to prop up dictators and prolong the usurpation of Venezuelan democracy.“
According to the Treasury Department, since the U.S. placed sanctions on Venezuela’s state-owned oil company in January, Cuban entities sought to circumvent the sanctions.
However, the U.S. President, Donald Trump, lashed out at Venezuela, alleging that modern-day death squads were running rampant in Venezuela while people suffer from poverty.
“Socialism and communism are about one only thing, power for the ruling class,“ Trump said.
