The United States has imposed new sanctions on three relatives of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, including six companies that transport oil from the South American country.a representative of the US Treasury confirmed this to the AFP agency on Thursday, writes TASR.
The move, first reported by Axios, comes shortly after the United States seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that the three people targeted by the sanctions are the nephews of Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores. – Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas, Carlos Erik Malpica Flores to Efrain Antonio Campo Flores.
Campo and Flores de Freitas were designated by the United States as “drug lords operating in Venezuela.” Sanctions were also reimposed on Malpica, whose removal from the 2017 sanctions list was canceled in 2022 by then US President Joe Bidenthe statement said. The fourth person to be sanctioned is businessman Ramon Carretero Napolitano, accused by the US Treasury Department of “lucrative contracts with the Maduro regime”.
According to the AP agency, the aim of the sanctions is to prevent these persons from accessing any property or financial assets in the USA. American companies and citizens should be deterred from doing business with them by possible fines. “Nicolás Maduro and his criminal accomplices in Venezuela are flooding the United States with drugs that are harming the American people,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “These sanctions undo the failed attempt by the Biden administration to strike a deal with Maduro that would allow him dictatorial and brutal control at the expense of the Venezuelan and American people.” he added.
US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that the United States had seized a large oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. US Attorney General Pam Bondi subsequently stated on the X Network that this tanker was carrying oil from Venezuela and Iran. On Thursday, the White House announced that the tanker would be transferred to a United States port.
