The United States has on Friday ramped up pressure of Venezuelan elected legitimate President Nicolas Maduro by imposing sanction over some of Maduro’s top-level security officials and the head of the state PDVSA oil entity, and by unveiling his plans to airlift around 200 tons of humanitarian aids to the Colombian border.
According to Reuters news reports, the US Treasury said it imposed sanctions over PDVSA head Manuel Quevedo, Rafael Bastardo, who the US officials said is the head of the national police unit which is responsible for dozens of killings which were carried out on Maduro’s behalf in a nighttime raid, and three top intelligence officials.
The US state department has separately said it was working with the US aid agency and the Pentagon in order to airlift humanitarian aids to Cucuta, Colombia on Saturday, on the Venezuelan border.
The step came as a part of Washington to oust Maduro, who views 2018 election as illegitimate, and to bolster opposition leader Juan Guaido who declared himself as interim president of Venezuela.
In a tweet, Quevedo said the Venezuelan officials were sanctioned by the US to guarantee peace and building homes, and further criticized the “coup and military plan of the United States, its allies” and the opposition head.
A US official said the American military aircraft were expected to deliver about more than 200 tons of aid to the border town. Washington has already pre-positioned relief aid in Colombia and is into coordination with Guaido to further mobilize the aids for the country, a US state department spokesperson said.
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo told reporters in Reykjavik: “This man Maduro has created a humanitarian crisis. As soon as this weekend we will continue to deliver massive humanitarian assistance. Hopefully, Mr Maduro will allow that into his country.”
The aids which were dispatched by Colombia and the US had arrived in Cucuta last week and were being held in warehouses.
US national security adviser John Bolton also worked on to undermine Maduro on Friday and said political and economic pressure was squeezing top government, claiming that without offering any proof that “a clear majority, maybe almost all of them” were discussing to support Guaido or leave the country.
In a statement, treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said: “We are sanctioning officials in charge of Maduro’s security and intelligence apparatus, which has systematically violated human rights and suppressed democracy, including through torture.”
Those who were sanctioned was commander of Maduro’s presidential guard Ivan Hernandez, Manuel Cristopher, director general of Venezuela’s Sebin intelligence agency, and Hildemaro Rodriguez, first commissioner of the service.
It has also frozen all properties in the US related to all five sanctioned officials. The Treasury Department noted in its statement that “U.S. sanctions need not to be permanent; sanctions are intended to bring about a positive change of behaviour”.
It said: “The United States has made clear that we will consider lifting sanctions for persons … who take concrete and meaningful actions to restore democratic order, refuse to take part in human rights abuses, speak out against abuses committed by the government, and combat corruption in Venezuela.”