The US Department of the Treasury issued targeted sanctions today against five regime officials over their alleged involvement in “egregious levels of corruption and human rights abuses”.
The Treasury’s press release on the sanctions includes the following:
“Treasury is identifying high-level officials acting on behalf of the oppressive regime of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, which continues to engage in egregious levels of corruption and human rights abuses,” said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. “This action harmonizes our efforts with those of international partners like Canada and the European Union that have imposed sanctions against former Maduro regime officials.”
The sanctioned individuals are:
- Admiral Remigio Ceballos Ichaso: Commander of the National Bolivarian Armed Forces’ Strategic Operational Command (CEOFANB).
- Major Nestor Neptali Blanco Hurtado: Member of the National Bolivarian Guard, “reportedly responsible for the excessive use of force and mistreatment” of regime prisoners.
- Jose Adelino Ornelas Ferreira: Secretary General of the National Defense Council, a body that plans and organizes military matters alongside Maduro.
- Pedro Miguel Carreno Escobar: Constituent Assembly deputy and a former army captain.
- Carlos Alberto Calderon Chirinos: Senior officer with the Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia Nacional [National Bolivarian Intelligence Service] “accused of torturing peaceful protesters” in 2014.
Guaido: UN Visit “Recognition” Of The Crisis
Opposition leader Juan Guaido spoke today on yesterday’s visit to Venezuela by Mark Lowcock, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief at the United Nations.
The meeting, which was advertised by Minister of Foreign Affairs Jorge Arreaza, was noteworthy insofar as the Maduro regime has for years denied the existence of a humanitarian crisis in the country, thereby negating the need for international aid.
Guaido said that the meeting amounted to recognition by the Maduro regime that the humanitarian crisis affecting the country is “about the become a catastrophe”,
On Lowcock’s visit, Guaido said:
We have the UN’s most important person when it comes to humanitarian crises in the country. This is nothing more than an implicit recognition of the crisis, the obvious [fact] that we are facing a humanitarian crisis that is about to become a catastrophe.
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