Washington: The United States (US) has decided to impose sanctions on Venezuela with an aim to isolate its oil sector, said the Trump administration in a release on Wednesday (local time). In an official release, it said the sanctions are aimed at four companies and their oil tankers, which are accused on transporting the Venezuelan oil.
“President Trump has been clear: We will not allow the illegitimate Maduro regime to profit from exporting oil while it floods the United States with deadly drugs,” Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a release. “The Treasury Department will continue to implement President Trump’s campaign of pressure on Maduro’s regime.”
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President Donald Trump has accused Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s regime of being a ‘nacro-terrorist’ government that is trying to destabilise the US. The Trump administration claims that the vessels, which allegedly transport Venezuelan oil, are providing financial resources to Maduro and his regime.
“Maduro’s regime increasingly depends on a shadow fleet of worldwide vessels to facilitate sanctionable activity, including sanctions evasion, and to generate revenue for its destabilising operations. Today’s action further signals that those involved in the Venezuelan oil trade continue to face significant sanctions risks,” the release read.
Maduro should relinquish power: Trump
According to Trump, Maduro should relinquish power, accusing his regime of doing ‘terrible things’ to the US. Last month, reports had also emerged that the 79-year-old Republican leader gave an ultimatum to Maduro to relinquish power, but the Venezuelan authorities had denied that.
“Well, I think it probably would,” Trump had said. “Can’t tell. That’s up to him what he wants to do. I think it would be smart for him to do that. Again, we’re going to find out.”
“Hundreds of thousands of people, millions of people, into our open border. They sent their criminals, they sent their prisoners, they sent their drug dealers, they sent their mentally insane and incompetent people into our country, more than any other country,” he added.
With tensions rising between the two countries, Maduro last year told a gathering in Caracas that his regime only wants peace, but not a ‘slave’s peace’. “We want peace, but peace with sovereignty, equality, freedom! We do not want a slave’s peace, nor the peace of colonies!” he had said.
