Economics
U.S. Adds to Venezuela Pressure With Sanctions Days Before Vote
- Targets Diosdado Cabello, second-in-command of ruling party
- Action taken ahead of Venezuela elections scheduled for Sunday
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The Trump administration renewed its efforts to pressure the government of President Nicolas Maduro by sanctioning former National Assembly Speaker Diosdado Cabello Rondon and three other Venezuelans, accusing them of involvement in drug trafficking, money laundering, and embezzlement.
The action against Cabello, second-in-command of the ruling United Socialist party, comes just ahead of elections scheduled for Sunday. A notice posted on a U.S. Treasury website also names Jose David Cabello Rondon, his brother and the head of Venezuela’s tax collection agency; Marleny Josefina Contreras Hernandez, his wife and Venezuela’s minister of tourism; and Rafael Alfredo Sarria Diaz, described in a Treasury statement as Cabello’s “front man.”