Press. voanews.com
The United
States on Friday forbade any dealings in new Venezuela debt or equity in
Washington's latest move to pressure the repressive government of President
Nicolas Maduro. The sanctions were meant to demonstrate that "the United
States will not allow an illegitimate dictatorship to take hold in the Western
Hemisphere at the expense of its people," national security adviser H. R.
McMaster told reporters.
"No
military actions are anticipated in the near future," McMaster responded
when asked about the possibility of intervention in Venezuela by U.S. forces.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, when asked a few minutes
later to elaborate, said, "We leave all options on the table and we're not
taking any of those things off."
An executive
order, signed Friday by President Donald Trump, bars U.S. transactions with
Maduro's government and the PDVSA state oil company. Treasury Secretary Steve
Mnuchin said during a White House news conference Friday that the sanctions
would "undermine Maduro's ability to pay off political cronies and regime
supporters." "On the economic front, I would say our plan has to
continue to turn up the heat on the Venezuelan government, and these specific
actions, we've tried to balance things that don't hurt the Venezuelan
people," Mnuchin said.
'Get their
attention'
At U.N.
headquarters, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley told reporters: "We have had no
choice but to turn around and do the sanctions to get their attention."
General Antonio
Guterres.
"Maybe the
United States is trying to create ... a humanitarian crisis in our country?
What do they want — they want to starve the Venezuelan people?" Arreaza
asked. The foreign minister added that Maduro had been intent on having good
relations with Trump, but said, "These financial sanctions announced today
are the worst aggressions to Venezuela in the last 200 years, maybe."
Militia members
shout slogans during a speech by the commander of the Venezuelan Bolivarian
Militia, Gen. Carlos Leal Telleria, in Fort Tiuna, Caracas, Venezuela, Aug. 25,
2017. President Nicolas Maduro ordered military exercises in response to resident Donald Trump's warning of possible
military action to resolve the country's crisis.
A senior
administration official in Washington told reporters in a telephone briefing
minutes after the latest sanctions were announced: "We will not
participate in extending debt or equity or bonds or new bonds or securities
that enable this regime to perpetuate its cycle of violence and
oppression."
Officials said
the new order does allow the U.S. Treasury Department to provide licenses for
other commercial and humanitarian transactions, including financing for
commercial trade, petroleum exports and imports, and transactions that involve
only PDVSA's U.S. unit, Citgo.
"What we're
trying to do here is create a series of escalatory measures that we can
take," a senior administration official said. "Obviously, the United
States has a lot of influence over the Venezuelan economy, but it doesn't mean
we want to rush in and use our influence in an irresponsible manner."
Soldiers break
ranks after standing in formation behind Admiral Remigio Ceballos, chief of
staff of the Armed Forces Strategic Operational Command, during a news
conference to provide details of military drills that are being prepared in
response to President Donald Trump's warning of possible military action, at Fort
Tiuna, Caracas, Venezuela, Aug. 25, 2017. He added, "The goal here is for
the restoration of democracy to be brought to Venezuela. Our goal is not to
continue to escalate this. Nobody wants that."
Free, fair
elections
The White House
said Maduro also needed to hold free and fair elections and release all
political prisoners. "The Maduro dictatorship continues to deprive the
Venezuelan people of food and medicine, imprison the democratically elected
opposition, and violently suppress freedom of speech," a White House
statement said. "The regime's decision to create an illegitimate
constituent assembly — and most recently to have that body usurp the powers of
the democratically elected National Assembly — represents a fundamental break
in Venezuela's legitimate constitutional order."
Last week,
Venezuela's constituent assembly gave itself the power to pass laws, seizing
legislative power from the opposition-led congress. The assembly unanimously
passed a decree enabling it "to legislate on matters directly aimed at
ensuring the preservation of peace, security, sovereignty, the socioeconomic
financial system, the purposes of state and the preeminence of Venezuela's human
rights." The election of the assembly last month was boycotted by the opposition
and triggered international condemnation. The body is charged with rewriting
the country's 1999 constitution and has given permission to Maduro to rule by
decree.
Russian, China
There are fears
that strong U.S. pressure could drive Maduro into the arms of China and Russia
for the sake of his political survival. "These steps now to point out the
risks of dealing in further, future debt placements should give both of those
countries a deep pause before they further deepen their engagement in this region,"
a senior U.S. official said. "And we think it will have an important,
dissuasive effect on their own calculations."
U.S.
Representative Eliot Engel of New York, the top Democrat on the House Committee
on Foreign Affairs, said in a statement that Trump must ensure U.S. sanctions
"have the appropriate impact and adjust them as necessary."
Engel also
called for other countries and the U.N. to push for a resolution to the
political crisis and the Venezuelan people's lack of access to food and
medicine. "I have a long record in Congress of supporting strong actions
against rogue regimes and will continue to do so," Engel added.
U.S. and
International Monetary Fund officials said Venezuela's economy continues to
severely contract, oil production is rapidly declining and the government is
liquidating its visible assets — all of which contributes to a deepening
humanitarian crisis in the Latin American country. VOA's Margaret Besheer contributed to this
report from the United Nations.
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