WASHINGTON, March 09 2015 – President Obama slapped economic sanctions on seven Venezuelan officials Monday, accusing them of human rights violations and declaring their government to be a threat to U.S. national security.
“Venezuelan officials past and present who violate the human rights of Venezuelan citizens and engage in acts of public corruption will not be welcome here,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. “And we now have the tools to block their assets and their use of U.S. financial systems.”
The administration is “deeply concerned by the Venezuelan government’s efforts to escalate intimidation of its political opponents,” Earnest said, and the nation’s economic problems “cannot be solved by criminalising dissent.”
The sanctions target seven specific Venezuelan government officials who are involved in “violence against anti-government protesters,” or the “arrest or prosecution of individuals for their legitimate exercise of free speech,” said Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.
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