US imposes sanctions on Venezuelan FM

WASHINGTON (AA): The U.S. on Friday imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza.

Arreaza has also served as the country’s vice minister for the ministry for science, technology, and intermediate industries, executive vice president, and minister of the ecological mining development. The sanctions are part of U.S.’s efforts to place economic pressure on the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and its regional allies, as Washington has moved to recognize opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s president.

The Treasury Department also placed sanctions on Carol Padilla, a special court judge, for her role as an official in Venezuela’s government. “Treasury will continue to target corrupt Maduro insiders, including those tasked with conducting diplomacy and carrying out justice on behalf of this illegitimate regime,” the agency said in a statement.

Guaido declared himself interim president in January following massive protests amid a spiraling humanitarian and economic crisis in the Latin American nation.

The U.S. quickly threw its diplomatic support behind Guaido, calling on other nations to follow suit while imposing economic sanctions on the Venezuelan government as well as taking other punitive measures against its leaders. The political stalemate is being played out as Venezuela grapples with a worsening economic crisis that has led to widespread shortages of goods throughout the country.

Washington has blacklisted other Venezuelan entities and officers, including the country’s state oil company PDVSA and the central bank. Treasury also sanctioned Laureano Ortega Murillo, the son of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, to target “corrupt financial operations and Ortega regime support network.” Nicaragua is one of about a half-dozen Latin American nations who have declined recognition of Guaido. Venezuela’s economy has been in precipitous decline following a global downturn in the price of crude oil, the country’s main export.