Press. voanews.com
The Trump
administration is set to impose new sanctions on members of the Venezuelan
Supreme Court for stripping the opposition-led congress of all power earlier
this year. Among those
targeted is Maikel Moreno, the president of the pro-government Supreme Court,
which issued a ruling in late March. The ruling was later partially reversed
amid international criticism, but it sparked a protest movement that has
continued for nearly two months and left more than 40 people dead.
On Thursday,
U.S. President Donald Trump called the situation in Venezuela a “disgrace to
humanity,” and said the deadly political crisis is possibly the worst of its
kind in “decades.”
'There's great
violence'
“We haven't
really seen a problem like that ... in decades, in terms of the kind of
violence that we're witnessing,” Trump told a joint news conference with
visiting Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.
“People don't
have enough to eat. People have no food. There's great violence. And we will do
whatever is necessary, and we will work together to do whatever is necessary,
to help with fixing that. ... what is happening is really a disgrace to
humanity.”
Pressure increases
on Maduro
The threat of
new sanctions comes as Venezuela's socialist president, Nicolas Maduro, is
facing increasing international pressure to hold elections. On Wednesday, the
U.N. Security Council discussed the crisis in Venezuela for the first time at
the request of the United States. The Washington-based Organization of American
States is holding a rare foreign ministers council session on the troubled
South American nation later this month.
Maduro's
political foes have taken to the streets to demand that he schedule
long-delayed elections, release political prisoners and permit the delivery of
humanitarian aid. The demonstrations and counterdemonstrations have escalated
since the socialist leader's call earlier this month for a new constitution. But
Maduro repeatedly has accused the United States of leading an attempt to
overthrow his government.