The Trump administration imposed sanctions against Venezuela’s state-owned oil company on Monday, seeking to cripple the government of embattled President Nicolás Maduro by cutting off its main source of cash.
The move marked the first punitive step by the United States to force Maduro to give up power since the opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, declared himself interim president last week after years of accusations of corruption in Venezuela at the expense of its people.
The sanctions prohibit most American businesses from engaging in transactions with the Oil Company, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., or Pdvsa. Administration officials said the financial penalties are expected to block US$7 billion in assets and result in $11 billion in export losses over the next year for Venezuela’s government, starving it from its most important source of revenue and foreign currency.
Last week, the Trump administration recognized Guaidó, the 35-year-old leader of the National Assembly, as his supporters took to the streets to demand new elections. Maduro has cut ties to the United States and has demanded that all American diplomats leave the country.
Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, said Pdvsa had “long been a vehicle for embezzlement” among top Venezuelan officials and politically connected businessmen.
“The United States is holding accountable those responsible for Venezuela’s tragic decline,” Mnuchin said at the White House. He said the Trump administration would pursue all diplomatic and economic avenues to support Guaidó and the National Assembly, “and the Venezuelan people’s efforts to restore their democracy.”
In Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, Maduro immediately denounced the sanctions as “unilateral, illegal, immoral and criminal.”
“You will have blood on your hands, President Trump,” Maduro said during a ceremony honoring Venezuelan diplomats who recently returned home from the United States.
Maduro said he had ordered Pdvsa to pursue legal action to retain its assets. In an interview Monday before the sanctions were announced, Guaidó said his nascent government was making every effort it could to get control of Venezuela’s international assets — and mainly the state oil company.
“They have the bureaucracy of this country kidnapped, they direct this bureaucracy,” he said, referring to Mr. Maduro and his control of Pdvsa. (www.nytimes.com)
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