June 28, 2019–The U.S. government added the son of Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro Moros to its sanction’s list, blocking all his property that are in the United States or in possession or control of U.S. persons.
In its release, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said it is targeting Nicolas “Nicolasito” Ernesto Maduro because he is “a current or former official of the Government of Venezuela,” and the office would continue to target regime insiders.
“Maduro’s regime was built on fraudulent elections, and his inner circle lives in luxury off the proceeds of corruption while the Venezuelan people suffer,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in a release. “Maduro relies on his son Nicolasito and others close to his authoritarian regime to maintain a stranglehold on the economy and suppress the people of Venezuela.”
Earlier this week, OFAC added two additional former Venezuelan officials, Eustiquio Jose Lugo Gomez and Luis Motta, whom the U.S. Justice Department has charged with money laundering as part of an illegal bribery scheme.
The sanctions against Maduro’s son, in particular, is a sign of further action against Venezuelan’s government for human rights abuses and actions against democracy.
Sanctions Since 2015
Since former U.S. President Barrack Obama signed an executive order in 2015, U.S. sanctions have targeted Venezuelan government officials and their supporters. While declaring Venezuela an “extraordinary threat,” Obama cited the following:
- erosion of human rights guarantees,
- persecution of political opponents,
- curtailment of press freedoms,
- use of violence and human rights violations and abuses in response to antigovernment protests, and
- arbitrary arrest and detention of antigovernment protestors, as well as “the exacerbating presence” of significant public corruption.
President Donald Trump has ratcheted up those sanctions amid political and economic crises, issuing five executive orders since 2017 and adding more and more names to the Specially Designated Nationals list.
Political and Economic Crises
The U.S. government supports opposition leader Juan Guaido. He declared himself interim president in January by invoking the country’s constitution. Maduro, meanwhile, has the support of his country’s military as well as China, Russia and Turkey. Despite international efforts to resolve the six-month political crisis, the dispute remains in place and Maduro remains in power.
Meanwhile, the economic situation has boiled over into crisis. The inflation rate hit 130,000 percent last year, according to the country’s central bank. Furthermore, the economy shrank by 22.5 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2018. According to on-the-ground reports, Venezuelans who have stayed in their country rely on money transfers from abroad to survive.
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