The United States states it is imposing penalties on three relatives of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, among others, as it intensifies its pressure effort on the South American nation.
A pair of the penalized nephews were formerly found guilty of drug trafficking accusations in the US prior to being freed in a prisoner exchange.
The US is also targeting Venezuela’s petroleum industry by sanctioning a Panamanian businessperson and six transportation firms that allegedly transported Venezuelan crude.
Furthermore, the US Treasury pinpointed six seafaring vessels it claimed participated in “misleading and unsafe transport methods” that supplied monetary support to Maduro’s administration.
CNN has contacted the Venezuelan administration seeking comment.
The penalties follow a day after the US confiscated an oil tanker near the Venezuelan coast.
Attorney General Pam Bondi asserted the tanker had been sanctioned by the US for numerous years “due to its participation in an unlawful oil transport network backing foreign terrorist groups,” encompassing Venezuela and Iran.
Maduro on Thursday declared the seizure signified “a new period of illegal maritime banditry in the Caribbean.”
The Venezuelan administration on Thursday submitted a formal objection with the International Maritime Organization, condemning the US confiscation.
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