{"id":65043,"date":"2018-05-08T05:58:57","date_gmt":"2018-05-08T05:58:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=65043"},"modified":"2018-05-08T05:58:57","modified_gmt":"2018-05-08T05:58:57","slug":"us-slaps-sanctions-venezuela-urges-halt-sham-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/world-news\/us-slaps-sanctions-venezuela-urges-halt-sham-vote.html","title":{"rendered":"US slaps more sanctions on Venezuela, urges halt of ‘sham’ vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

US slaps more sanctions on Venezuela, urges halt of ‘sham’ vote<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

US Vice President Mike Pence on Monday urged Venezuela to suspend a divisive May 20 election he denounced as a “sham,” as Washington slapped fresh sanctions on Nicolas Maduro’s regime.<\/span><\/p>\n

In an address to the Organization of American States, Pence slammed the upcoming presidential vote — boycotted by the opposition and branded illegitimate by much of the international community.<\/span><\/p>\n

“We call on Maduro to suspend the sham elections, and hold real elections,” the vice president told the gathering in Washington.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maduro shot back that Venezuela was not about to follow US orders.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Do we listen to the imperialists?” Maduro asked aupporters at a Caracas forum. “NO!” they cheered.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Venezuela, rain or shine, will be holding presidential elections on Sunday May 20,” Maduro said to a roar.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pence’s address came as the United States imposed sanctions on 20 companies — 16 of them in Venezuela, and four in Panama — as well as three Venezuelan nationals including a former top intelligence official indicted in the US for narcotics trafficking.<\/span><\/p>\n

“We will deny corrupt Venezuelan regime officials access to the US financial system as we work with international partners to support the Venezuelan people in restoration of democracy and a return to prosperity,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in announcing the measures.<\/span><\/p>\n

US lawmakers have been calling on President Donald Trump’s administration to take a harder line on Maduro’s government, with Senator Marco Rubio going as far as calling for Washington to press for regime change.<\/span><\/p>\n

The OAS, meanwhile, has been deadlocked between members keen to punish Venezuela for democratic backsliding, and long-standing Maduro allies who want to prop him up.<\/span><\/p>\n

Amid swelling international criticism, Venezuela in April 2017 began the two-year process of withdrawing from the OAS, which it accuses of interference.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pence urged the 35-nation body to pre-empt that move and suspend Caracas — in the name of their “long-standing commitment to democracy and freedom.”<\/span><\/p>\n

– Inflation hits 13,779 percent –<\/span><\/p>\n

The latest sanctions unveiled by the US Treasury Department notably designated Pedro Luis Martin Olivares, former chief of financial intelligence for Venezuela’s National Directorate of Intelligence, as a “significant foreign narcotics trafficker.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Martin worked to move cocaine and other drugs through Venezuela, paying off Venezuelan officials on the border with Colombia and accepting bribes from drug traffickers in both countries.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2015, Martin was indicted by a US grand jury in Florida for conspiring to distribute drugs in the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control also designated Martin’s partner Walter Alexander Del Nogal Marquez and associate Mario Antonio Rodriguez Espinoza for supporting international narcotics trafficking.<\/span><\/p>\n

The companies targeted were owned or controlled by the three men.<\/span><\/p>\n

Venezuela’s opposition last week called for a boycott of the May 20 election, which Maduro looks likely to win in the absence of any real challenge to his authority.<\/span><\/p>\n

The South American country is in partial default on its debt and suffers severe shortages of food and medicines despite sitting atop the planet’s biggest proven oil reserves.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maduro’s government has been printing money as foreign reserves dwindle, and the national currency, the bolivar, has become nearly worthless.<\/span><\/p>\n

Venezuela’s dizzying inflation rose to 13,779 percent in the past year, a study released Monday by the opposition-dominated National Assembly has found — confirming other estimates showing that Venezuela has by far the world’s highest inflation rate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maduro insists Venezuela is the victim of an “economic war” waged by the conservative opposition and outside powers such as the United States aimed at toppling him.<\/span><\/p>\n

US Vice President Mike Pence’s address to the Organization of American States comes two weeks before a divisive presidential poll in Venezuela<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-https:\/\/au.news.yahoo.com\/us-announce-venezuela-sanctions-call-vote-delay-171147877–spt.html<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t